Into the Paloridian
by Deep Sea Anchor
Summary: Time travel, romance, maniacal doctors, pirates, fanatical regimes, genocide, abominations of science, and suspense abound as Leo and Aeris are sent tumbling Into The Paloridian.
1. Chapter One: Into The Paloridian

_**Into The Paloridian**_

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><p>Deeper she sank into the darkness, the air in her lungs near spent. She struggled to reach the surface to no avail, the ballast was too heavy. Plunging down, Aeris tried again at the locks fastened to her ankles. No good.<p>

Her lungs were screaming in agony, the urge to breathe in was unbearable. As the world began to fade into a blackness to match the depths Aeris wondered silently to herself. "_How did it come to this? Why did it happen like this? It's all been such a blur."_

The world went black… and Aeris woke up.

She shot up in her bed, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. Disgusted, she threw her sheets off and got out of bed. Unsteadily, she made her way to her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She was visibly pale, even through her fur, and was shaking noticeably.

Aeris clutched at the sides of the sink to steady herself until she had regained enough control to stop the involuntary convulsions. She looked back up at the mirror. She could still feel her pulse pounding in her head, but she looked normal at least.

Aeris looked back at the bed and shuddered. She dreaded the thought of sleep, should the nightmare return. Her pajamas clung to her skin, damp with the sweat. Though now in control, Aeris still felt incredibly tense and a little sick. Taking of her clothing, she turned on the shower. She set the tap as hot as she could handle and stepped in.

The water poured in rivulets from the shower head. It struck her fur and sank down in to the skin. She felt muscles tense and relax wherever the water went. Turning, she attempted to make it go wherever she could. She felt as tense as whipcord all over her body.

After about half an hour, Aeris felt herself returning to normal, at least physically. Stepping out of the bathroom, she felt the cold late autumn air brush her skin through her fur. Still slightly damp even after drying herself, she became conscious of her attire or lack to her dresser, she selected a fresh pair of PJ's and sat down in one of the chairs in her room.

Abandoning all hope of any more sleep that night Aeris stood, walked over to the television, and turned it on. She grabbed her Xbox controller and repositioned the most comfortable chair in the room in front of the TV so that she could play without being distracted by any kind of discomfort. She chose to play something that she could use to envelop herself in completely to block out the world and the nights troubles.

As the menu theme for Skyrim played she navigated to her last saved game. She played as a Khajiit, of course. Playing as her own species was something of a treat. She'd made the character look as much like herself as possible, though this was made difficult by the lack of pink fur options the game presented. In the end she'd settled for what she imagined she would look like as a grey tiger version of herself.

She'd chosen grey at Leo's behest. Of course Leo had strolled in while she sat pondering her character design. Leo always appeared from somewhere to interrupt her, no matter what she was doing. Sometimes she didn't mind and that day had been a good example. She'd humored him and he'd left her alone after that, at least for a little. Of course she couldn't leave him alone for too long. Left to his own devices, Leo was a living natural disaster. If he wasn't breaking something, injuring himself, or otherwise causing mayhem and chaos, he was causing Aeris some other form of distress. Fiscally, he was a nightmare. He spent money that wasn't his on things he didn't need, as often as not on things that Aeris would have to dispose of immediately, leading to a huge amount of effort on her part. How had Leo gotten his hands on weapons grade plutonium anyway?

For someone as mentally disadvantaged as Leo, it was a wonder how often he managed to do the impossible. And boy was he durable, no matter what kind of injury he sustained, no matter how many viscous beatings Aeris administered, Leo always bounced back. It was like he was genetically engineered to be indestructible, at the cost of any semblance of normal brain activity.

Aeris had no idea why or how she tolerated his idiocy… why did she tolerate his idiocy, anyway? What motivation could she possibly have to endure his constant knuckle-headedness? There had to be a reason. Aeris pondered this question distractedly, losing focus on the task at hand more and more.

Her thoughts were cut short by the game. As Aeris emerged from a cave, she was promptly flattened by a Giant, which had been dropped from the sky by a passing dragon.

Aeris stood, her eyes widened and her fists clenched in impotent fury.

_"What are the odds? In an entire game, in a massive world, what are the odds of a giant falling from the sky crushing me just as I conveniently exit a random cave in the middle of fucking nowhere? God Damn Radiant A.I.!"_

Her rage was abated somewhat when she suddenly remembered that the game had auto-saved before she'd left the cave. The screen reloaded and she once again emerged from the cave, wary this time, of airborne mammoth shepherds.

And so it went for the rest of the night as she whiled away the hours. Only when the first tentative rays of sunlight emerging from the city skyline struck her eyes through the window did Aeris notice that the morning had come. The dream more or less forgotten Aeris saved her game and stood up from her chair, stretching muscles stiffened by long hours spent stationary.

Her mind now unclouded by any immediate thought, Aeris noticed that she was hungry, famished in fact. That fact having been duly noted, Aeris made her way to the kitchen to prepare herself some breakfast. If Leo were to find Aeris on an empty stomach and he acted anything like he normally did, Leo would find himself in a very uncomfortable position.

Aeris made her way to the kitchen and as she started breakfast she felt herself relax as the pleasant smells wafted up from the oven.

Perhaps today would be a nice day after all, she thought absentmindedly.

**Meanwhile**

Leo slept peacefully in his bed, ignorant of Aeris's suffering. During the night he'd begun muttering to himself absently in his sleep. Had Aeris been in the room at the time, she would have undoubtedly overturned the bed and its contents and hung Leo out the window by his feet until morning. Fortunately for Leo, Aeris was busy battling her own demons, which meant that he did not have to haplessly endure _his_ personal pink demon.

Leo's sleep went uninterrupted the entire night save once, when he shot up into a sitting position, having thought that he'd heard Aeris saying something. His eyes still shut, he decided it had been his imagination and fell back onto his pillows and back into sleep.

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><p>It was roughly 7:15 and the smells of breakfast found their way into Leo's room. As Leo caught wind of the scents wafting freely about his room Leo's body began to move involuntarily from bed in an awkward attempt to reach breakfast. The end result was that Leo face planted on his blue carpeted floor.<p>

"Ouch", proclaimed Leo's muffled voice from the carpet.

Wondering aloud, Leo asked himself, "Why is my face in the floor?"

As the rest of Leo toppled from bed with a sound _Oomph_ from Leo, he began to consciously notice the smells. Picking himself up from off the ground Leo yawned and smacked his lips a few times while scratching his backside. He must investigate the source of these newfound smells, he decided to himself. As the James bond theme played in his head, Leo emerged from his room and snuck quietly down the hall.

Aha! There lay his victim, preparing breakfast, ignorant as she was to her impending doom. Leo chuckled evilly in his mind. She'd never see it coming. He imagined her terrified reaction.

Oh boy, this was going be such fun!

Careful not to make a sound, Leo crept up slowly behind Aeris, raising his arms dramatically, the horn section blared, taking in a deep breath, Leo prepared to shout and… CLANG!

The hot skillet resonated as it made contact with Leo's face. Aeris shrieked in surprise and dropped the skillet which landed, of course, on Leo's foot. Slipping on the grease from the pan Leo fell to the floor as he jumped up and down in an attempt to clutch at both his face and his foot simultaneously.

Aeris snatched up the skillet and stepped out of the kitchen and onto the living room carpet to avoid falling herself.

As Leo rose he grasped the oven to support himself. What he failed to notice was that his hand was directly were the skillet had been a moment ago, on a still heated stove head. Looking down at his hand Leo wondered why it was beginning to feel strange, as it began to hiss the thought clarified in Leo's mind and he snatched his hand away. As he recoiled from the stove he once again slipped in the grease and face planted, this time in front of Aeris. Who, as it turned out, was not very happy about having been snuck up on and then made to drop a hot, albeit empty, skillet.

"Hi Aeris", Leo exclaimed cheerfully.

"Leo-", Aeris sighed as she crouched down closer to his head, "-why were you behind me just now?"

"Oh, no reason." Leo smiled innocently. "I was just going to say hello is all."

Aeris adjusted her stance and rolled her eyes.

"Is that so?"

"Yep", Leo nodded enthusiastically from the floor.

"Mmm hmm", Aeris stood and dropped the skillet on Leo's head absently.

The pan hit Leo's head with a resounding clunk.

"Ouch."

"Well, you're lucky that there was nothing in that pan or you would have been in serious trouble. Now go clean yourself up." Aeris helped lift Leo off the ground and pushed him towards the bathroom. "Breakfast will be waiting when you come back."

"Yes mommy." Leo laughed at his little joke.

He found himself being propelled rapidly forward as Aeris's foot made contact with his rear. He reeled his way toward the bathroom with a _thump_ as he ran into the door.

Aeris sighed to herself, now to clean the mess Leo had made. Luckily, she had already placed the food on the table. When she was finished in the kitchen, Aeris set herself down at the table and ate the breakfast she'd made. It was the generic eggs, bacon, and waffles.

Aeris had no idea why she had a waffle iron. It was just another random thing they'd found when they unpacked after Leo and Aeris had moved into their Toronto apartment together.

They'd moved in when Leo had been evicted from his old apartment or something, and Aeris suggested they split the rent on a higher end apartment for the sake of convenience. Regardless, she enjoyed waffles and it served its purpose. She enjoyed her breakfast too, despite Leo's little mishap.

Aeris finished and left the table happily. Leo could do the dishes. She walked into the living room just a Leo left the bathroom, grinning. His hand bandaged and the grease washed out of his grey fur, he was more or less the picture of health.

"Breakfast!" he shouted, speeding his way to the table.

Sitting down, Leo inhaled his food, concerned less with the flavor and more with filling his stomach. When he was finished, Leo belched loudly in deep satisfaction. Standing, he thanked Aeris and headed for the door until he found himself stopped, suddenly, by Aeris.

"Hold it right there, Leo-", Aeris said menacingly. She turned Leo back towards the table and pointed at the clutter that marred its surface, "-you're not going anywhere until you've done the dishes. I already cleaned up one mess for you and I'm not doing it twice."

Good humored as always and eager to avoid more pans to his face, Leo responded, "Right, of course." and set himself to the dishes.

For the next few minutes Aeris occupied herself in the living room with Some _Battlefield Bad Company Two,_ she was feeling nostalgic.

When Leo stuck his head out of the kitchen and announced that he was leaving Aeris blinked. "_Leo didn't break anything? Hmm, he must be on good behavior. A smart move, considering. "_

Aeris paused her game, "See you after work then", and began to prepare to leave herself.

Neither of them was formally employed, as such. They just went looking for odd jobs around the city, mercenary work a lot of the time. They'd been to some really strange places inside and outside of their time period. To that effect they had acquired a time travelling car which Aeris had "borrowed" from Pantsman, who had taken it from "Doctor Van Kruglor". Where Krug got a time travelling car, she had no idea. But the car had led to a large part of Aeris and Leo's now considerable income. Leo always found the strangest people to do business with, though, which was one of the reasons that they always seemed to be stuck working in these trans-dimensional planes of insanity.

Of course, they were sometimes given missions that bordered on normality. They'd broken into a mall one time, decked out in full stealth gear. Aeris had no idea why they'd needed it. They'd been in stranger and more dangerous places with less gear than that. Leo had even tried street dancing one time. It… hadn't worked out.

Even more rarely they got jobs that were entirely normal, though those didn't usually last long. It was only a matter of time before Leo broke something, or a number of somethings, in some kind of massive disaster. Like now for example, Leo was currently employed at PAPER CLIPS. Sooner or later though, he'd somehow level the building or something.

Aeris was usually fired for mouthing off, generally in a very public fashion. She'd been fired from several news stations and commercial contracts. Actually, Aeris had been working on an allegory peace up until recently for a Mr. Potatamoto and Kutarchini. But she'd been fired… again, which was why she wasn't in too much of a hurry to get ready now. Today she would be out job hunting.

After changing out of her pajamas Aeris changed into normal cloths. In this case, a pair of deep purple pants, a pink business jacket, and a light purple T-shirt underneath. Over all that she wore a second jacket. It was a thicker red-purple one with pink trim on the zipper, collar, and sleeve ends.

Putting the jacket on and relishing its warmth brought back a memory of which Aeris was quite fond.

* * *

><p>It had been just a few days before Christmas and Aeris had worn that same jacket the night she and Leo had decided to stop at one of the game stores on their way home from having had coffee together. Leo had suggested that they go inside.<p>

He'd wanted to play some guitar game that Aeris didn't care about. Those types of games were too one dimensional for her.

Instead she'd wandered into the RPG section and had noticed something that astounded her, "_Dungeon Guy 3: Fullfillith Thine Fight"._ She took it off the shelf for a better look. It was the most amazing looking game Aeris had ever knew she had to have it, but… it had been a lean year. Aeris took out her wallet and found it empty.

She and Leo hadn't been given a job for months and with the economy as it was there weren't many regular jobs available either. Their cash was running low. It had gotten to the point where Aeris had to keep almost all the money securely in the bank, since they couldn't afford for Leo to anything stupid anymore. Aeris had been forced to limit their spending money on anything other than food and bills.

She put the game back on the shelf. Dejected, Aeris turned around and took one last longing look at a game she knew she couldn't even hope to have.

Early Christmas morning after a long night of job hunting, Aeris walked into the apartment with her jacket draped over her shoulder to find Leo collapsed on the couch in the living room with the television Leo was snoring on the couch wasn't that unusual, but he had been largely absent for several days and he looked more tired than Aeris had ever seen him, exhausted in fact.

But… Leo was never exhausted. In all the time Aeris had known Leo, she had never seen him too tired to make some inane comment or do something stupid. She'd walked into her room suspicious of what he'd been up to. It wasn't until Aeris flipped on the light switch that she noticed it, a present, wrapped in red paper and green ribbon on a shelf by her bedside.

Aeris picked up her gift and looked at it for a moment, smiling to herself. Leo did have his moments, and she thought of how nice it had been of him to get her a gift. But Aeris didn't waste much time on these thoughts as curiosity overcame her and she tore the wrapping to shreds.

She'd hadn't really known what to expect, knowing Leo it could still have been some poorly construed joke, or a well intentioned gift that would be completely useless, she really had no idea. What she had definitely not been expecting was what she saw resting in her paws. _"Dungeon Guy 2: Son of Dungeon Guy". _She stared at it for a moment, dumbstruck. Then she smiled, closed her eyes, and held Leo's beautiful present up to her chest.

_"That stupid, stupid little idiot",_ she thought to herself. Tears welled up behind closed eyes. "_Of course he would. Of course he would get the wrong one."_

It was the best, most wonderful present she'd ever gotten.

How had he gotten it? Aeris knew for certain that Leo was entirely incapable of saving up money on his own. He must have made it in the last few days. That made sense! He'd been gone all those times, staggering into the house late at night, vanishing in the early hours of the morning. Aeris had assumed he'd been fooling around with Pantsman or Krug, crashing Christmas parties or something.

But why had he been working for so many days? Sure, the game was expensive, but it shouldn't have taken days. Knowing Leo, he'd probably chosen the least paying most unpleasant tasks available, or just lost the money several times. But he'd done it.

_"Why on earth would he do this?" _she asked herself_. _He'd looked entirely run down. "_Why go through all this trouble? It was just a game after all. Why would it be so important?"_

This question rapidly fled her thoughts when Aeris realized a very crucial fact.

_"I didn't get Leo a gift!"_

The thought ran through her head like a runaway train. With everything else going on, the bills, trying to get a job, making rent, thinking about the game she'd wanted, she'd completely forgotten to get Leo a gift.

Aeris clutched the game to her stomach now as she doubled over, mewling unhappily. She felt retched, until a wonderful idea came to her. She smiled to herself. It would be perfect, just the thing to show Leo that she appreciated him too.

* * *

><p>It was one of her favorite memories and it gave her the warm fuzzies every time she thought of it. Sometimes, Leo could be the most wonderful person.<p>

Aeris frowned, it never lasted long though, Leo always figured out a way to mess things up eventually.

Still, when he did do something right… she smiled again.

Aeris shook herself. None of that mattered now. Stepping out of their apartment complex, Aeris took in a deep full breath of the brisk November air and exhaled loudly.

Maybe today was going to be a good day. Yes, maybe.

* * *

><p>It had been a horrible day.<p>

Aeris staggered through the doorway, struggling with the locks as she shut the door. She walked into her room and collapsed halfway onto the bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.

It was 11:00 at night. Aeris had been all over the city. She'd applied for every job she could find or think of and, though she argued her case well, they'd all been a resounding no. There wasn't a single place she was willing to work that would hire her. Her formal education was limited to media arts and writing, she was actually relatively skilled at both, but her reputation preceded her wherever she went. She'd stuck to it though, and hadn't given up until about 10:30. She'd trudged home in the snow, exhausted, frustrated, and trying to think of what she could do next.

She'd tried working in stores before, she couldn't handle it. There was only so much idiocy Aeris could handle and Leo filled that limit completely, and then some. They had plenty of money saved and Leo was still working, but Aeris was wary of dipping too heavily into the savings. They'd tried that before and it hadn't exactly worked out. She was even more wary of depending on Leo as a source of income. _Ugh, what to do? _

By the time she got home she still didn't have any ideas. By the time she got to the door she was too tired to care. Only one thought occupied her mind and that was sleep. Leo hadn't been in the living room, not that she would have had the energy to notice if he had been.

There were no nightmares tonight, just blackness.

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><p><strong>AN: And so it begins. Bear with me, the exciting parts have yet to come, but they will. I hope you still enjoyed this, however, slow though it may be. If you feel inclined to leave a review, I would encourage you to do so. I appreciate both brutal criticism (to improve what needs it) and compliments (to keep what is good and to do it again).**

**With that in mind... Onward To The Next Chapter!** **CHARGE!**


	2. Chapter Two: Breakfast and Battlefields

**Chapter Two: Breakfast and Battlefields  
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><p>The next day Leo woke up first, he meandered his way to the kitchen. It was Saturday and Leo wanted to begin such a joyous day appropriately, with an amazing and huge breakfast. He would accept nothing less. And so Leo started up the oven.<p>

Normally this would have been a recipe for disaster. Leo plus a hot stove and dozens of sharp pointy objects equals mass mayhem and widespread pain. But if there was one thing Leo was good at, it was surviving. Leo had lived through dozens of horrifying incidents and had always come out alive somehow. And Aeris hadn't always been around to coddle Leo in her oh so gentle paws.

Before they'd moved in together Leo had taught himself to cook and he was miraculously good. Everybody has a talent, Forest Gump had ping pong and running, Leo had cookingand an apparent indestructibility.

Leo had just put the last plate down onto the table when Aeris walked into the room, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She looked at the table and her eyes widened at the exquisite display or culinary skill that lay before her.

Leo poked his head out of the kitchen, "Morning Aeris" he said cheerily.

"Morning", Aeris managed, dumbfounded. In all the time she had been living with Leo, she'd never seen him cook. She'd kept him out of the kitchen for obvious reasons. She'd also woken up before him for most of that time, giving him little opportunity to get in without her knowledge. Keeping Leo out of trouble was a fulltime job.

"Leo, did you make this?" she asked, still shocked. She almost couldn't believe that he'd made this.

Walking out of the kitchen, rubbing his hands with a washcloth, he said, "Yep, I thought you'd be tired so I made enough for two."

"Enough for two." Aeris repeated.

"Yes" he nodded, smiling. "Apparently we're deaf as well as tired". He laughed as he tossed aside the cloth and sat down.

"Oh, shut up" Aeris snapped lightly as she sat down at the table, though without much conviction.

"Alright" Leo conceded. "Well, let's eat. I didn't make this to look at"

Aeris needed no further encouragement. They dove into the breakfast and before they knew it, it was gone.

Aeris moaned in satisfaction as the warmth from the food spread through her body.

"Pretty good, huh?" Leo chortled.

"Ok ok, that was pretty good." Aeris admitted. "Where did you learn to cook like that anyway?"

"Believe it or not, I did have to live alone for years before we moved in together." Leo smiled. "I know, it must be surprising, you would think that I would have had an entire harem of women at my beck and call. But apparently the women in this city are immune to my sex appeal."

"Ugh", Aeris rubbed her forehead, "I should have known better than to ask." She stood up. "Well, we'd better get started on these. We have a big day ahead of us."

Leo's expression turned puzzled, he cocked his head sideways. "We do, since when?"

"Since right now. Now get dressed" Aeris ordered, shoving Leo out of his chair and toward his room. As an afterthought, she called down the hallway, "And put on something presentable. I won't be seen outside walking around with someone who _looks_ like a total idiot, at least."

That base having been covered, she headed for her own room. She hadn't told Leo, but she'd decided to go and treat him to a new game. Of course, gratitude for breakfast wasn't her only motivation. She wanted the game too and she intended to get full use out of it, but Leo's little gesture had finally convinced her to actually go out and get it.

Leo came out of his room dressed in his customary long-sleeve blue shirt and grey-blue jeans. The shirt had a light blue collar and cuffs. He also wore a dark blue jacket and a grey-blue scarf. Finally, he had his most important piece of clothing, a blue bell around his neck. He couldn't remember a time he hadn't had that collar, he'd feel naked without it.

Aeris hadn't come out of her room yet so Leo sat down on the couch. Just as he was about to turn on the TV, though, Aeris walked out of her room. She was dressed the same as the day previous, except now she wasn't wearing the business jacket.

"Well, let's get going" she said, as she unlocked the door and started to head out, the dishes entirely forgotten in the wake of new game anticipation.

"Ok Aeris."

Leo followed Aeris down to the first floor. It was then that a thought struck him.

"Aeris?" he asked, "remind me why we aren't taking the car?"

"Several reasons" Aeris replied, "the first being that I don't trust you anywhere near that thing, the second being that the exercise is good for us, the third being that I don't like moving it out of the sub-basement, it's a pain in the ass, and fourth because even if it was easy I just don't want to."

She nodded once, sharply, to emphasize her point as she finished.

Leo's ears flattened onto the back of his head.

"But it's cold. I don't want to walk to…" another thought struck Leo, "where are we going anyway?"

Aeris looked up away from Leo up at the sky, feigning disinterest, "Oh, just to go get a game. Now let's go.", and started walking**.**

Leo's ears perked back up as he began to follow Aeris. "Wait, for real? What game?"

"You'll see." Aeris replied from in front of Leo as they walked. He couldn't see, but she was smiling to herself.

* * *

><p>They made it to the store without any trouble and bought the game. They'd bought <em>Battlefield 3<em>. Aeris would have gotten it sooner, but she had chosen instead to buy Skyrim. It had appealed to her gaming style more. Leo would have gotten it, but there had been a little incident and he'd sort of been on probation with Aeris. Part of that meant no new video games.

Leo was dancing along in circles around Aeris holding the game and smiling like an idiot as they walked home. Aeris was smiling to as she allowed herself to share in his happiness. Leo stopped for a second and looked at Aeris to ask her a question

"Hey Aeris?" he ventured.

"Yes Leo."

Aeris didn't sound angry so Leo decided it was safe to ask, "How come you didn't buy this sooner?"

Aeris stopped suddenly and started to grind her teeth. He forgot? "_He's already forgotten? God is he dense! How could even he forget that so quickly? How could he forget it at all?"_

Through clenched teeth she said, "Because Leo, you almost-", she stopped and sighed to herself. "Never mind Leo, I'm cold, let's go home."

Knowing better than to press the matter, Leo followed Aeris home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You read it? Hmm, I suppose that must mean you like what you've seen so far. Intriguing.**

**Well, if you've liked it so far, just wait until you get to the next chapter. FORWARD!**


	3. Chapter Three: Disaster in times gone by

**Chapter Three: Disaster in times gone bye  
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><p>Several weeks ago, there had been a construction site next to their apartment. Leo had been walking along the sidewalk with Krug and had seen two enormous cranes in the middle of the site with no one guarding them. All the workers had been apparently occupied with other matters.<p>

It was then that an idea began to take shape in Leo's mind. He ushered Krug into the site and told him his brilliant idea. Krug listened patiently and agreed that the idea was stupendous. Krug had always wanted to try crane wrestling.

Meanwhile Aeris had been in the apartment trying to catch a late afternoon nap after a solo mission somewhere with an anorexic Rod Stewart look alike. She'd left the mission entirely when she realized that he'd led her into a field of toxic dust. It became apparent that overexposure to it had caused him to lose his mind.

She'd had the curtains closed to block out the light, but that did little to block out the noise. It had almost been bearable, though, and she had been about to fall asleep when the sound of several tons of groaning metal colliding slammed into her ears. She leapt out of bed to see what the hell was going on and tore the curtains from the window. What she saw sent her staggering backwards and she fell on the floor in shock.

Inches from the window, was the arm of a massive crane. On the other side of it was the arm of another crane, apparently, trying to push it into the building.

Aeris had fled the building and headed for the construction site. What she found was a very small looking Leo surrounded by angry construction workers. Krug, on the other hand, had vanished. Leo saw Aeris and waved excitedly. The construction workers saw her too.

Aeris flew into a rage. She flew towards Leo, trying to claw his eyes out. The only thing that saved Leo was the construction workers. They pulled Aeris off him and tried to separate the two of them. Aeris floored several of them, but even Aeris couldn't outmatch dozens of burly construction workers all at once.

The construction workers found themselves in an awkward situation. A moment ago they'd been furious at the stupid grey cat, but after having seen what his friend had tried to do to him, they weren't so sure that they could consign him to that kind of punishment. They weren't psychiatrists, but they tried their best to smooth things over between them. The first time they let Aeris go, she flew at Leo again and got in a solid swipe at the side of his face, missing his eyes, but still opening three huge gashes in his cheek.

The second time, though, she had gotten a handle on herself enough to keep from killing Leo on the spot. He stood in front of her looking at his feet, holding his still bleeding cheek.

Aeris softened a hair. He'd looked so pitiful in front of her.

Leo looked up at Aeris shamefully, "Aeris-"

"Save it" she snarled. Leo flinched. "We're going home".

Aeris turned around and started walking, Leo in her wake, his head down. The construction workers parted before her, remembering how she easily she'd leveled their comrades.

When they got to the apartment Aeris exploded," What were you thinking?"

Leo flinched again. "I don't know Aeris. I guess I wasn't."

"No, you sure as hell weren't!"

"Aeris I'm sorry."

"I don't want to hear it Leo! Do you realize you could've killed people? You could've killed me."

She pointed at the window, "It was right there Leo, right in front of me!"

Leo winced with each sentence as he realized what he had almost done. His eyes began to water and he sank to his knees looking at Aeris. Right now, he was standing in a room with his oldest friend and, if even the slightest thing had happened differently, he could have killed her. As that sank into him he started to cry weakly.

He struggled to find the right words. Biting back tears he began, "Aeris..."

"What!" she shouted.

"Aeris I…" He couldn't do it. He burst into tears and fell to the floor shaking.

Aeris looked down at Leo and felt herself drift from her rage. Little by little, she calmed down enough to really look at him. He was so utterly miserable. He looked broken, like he'd been heartlessly shattered against the rocks of his suffering. She felt her eyes begin to water, he was an idiot, but he was her oldest friend too. They'd been through so much together… she looked at him and realized he was like this because of her and started to hate herself a little for it. She knew he deserved some of it, but she didn't like this, she couldn't stand this.

She turned around and closed her eyes, rubbing the space in between her eyebrows. She faced Leo again.

"Leo get up."

He didn't, he just kept shaking uncontrollably on the ground.

Aeris walked up to him and crouched down low enough to grab his arm.

"Leo, I said get up."

He looked up at her, an ocean of sorrow in his eyes.

"Aeris…" her stammered, "Aeris I… I didn't mean to… Aeris I'm so-"

"Not now", she cut him off, gently," Now, we're going to take you to bed."

Leo sniffed and nodded weakly. Aeris helped him up, but he was still shaking uncontrollably and was unsteady on his feet. He had to lean almost his whole body weight onto Aeris. She got him all the way to his room and set him down on the bed and pulled the covers over him. He looked at her and tried to speak again but she silenced him first.

"Now you rest. We'll talk in the morning."

Tears still streaked down the side of Leo's face but he nodded.

Aeris turned and left the room, turning out the lights behind her. Leo fell asleep almost instantly, he was exhausted. He'd never felt more tired in his life.

Aeris stood outside in the hall, her back to his door, her front facing her own. She closed her eyes and slumped to the floor. This was horrible. How could all this have happened in one day? She felt sick, like someone was gripping her stomach and throat from the inside. She'd never felt worse than this. She needed rest and she needed it desperately. She made her way into her room and got into bed. She couldn't process the emotions running through her right now. She needed to shut them out for a little, she needed to sleep, and so she did.

* * *

><p>The next morning Leo walked into the living room looking ragged and worn down, the marks on his cheek were swollen and his eyes still made Aeris's heart ache. She was waiting for him at the table next to the kitchen. There were only two seats at the table. Aeris occupied one and she gestured for Leo to take the other. He did and he looked at Aeris again, with those eyes.<p>

She looked away, she couldn't stand his eyes. But there were things that had to be said. She braced herself and looked back at him, right into the eyes.

"Leo."

"Yes" he croaked, his voice still hoarse form crying.

"Do you know what you did?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Do you know what almost could have happened?"

He nodded again, the tears were coming back. Leo restrained himself. He had to listen to Aeris. He knew this was important.

"Do you know why I was so angry yesterday?"

Once again he nodded. But this time, he spoke, "I think so. It's because I almost hurt a bunch of people. Because of what I could've done. Because I almost…" He stopped there. He couldn't manage that final thought. It was too much to handle. The idea of losing Aeris was like the idea of losing his mind. They didn't get along very well all the time, but be that as it may, he realized he also couldn't live without Aeris.

Aeris looked at him, "There is that. But there's more too." She looked him in the eyes again, "I was also angry because I was worried about you. You might have killed me, and other people too, but you also could have very easily killed yourself."

Leo's eyes suddenly became so much worse. It was like knowing that Aeris cared about him had made the thought of losing her a thousand times worse, and it showed. But Aeris kept looking, "Leo, I am not going to say I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. You did a very stupid thing and I can't let you forget it." Leo shrank into his seat but his eyes kept looking at her. She stood.

"But", Aeris said, "You also need to know that I couldn't stand the idea of you… of you dying." She struggled with the last word. The thought was as painful for her as it was for Leo. But she wasn't finished yet. "We've been together for a long time and like it or not you matter to me. Taking care of you is part of my job. Leo, you're my friend, losing you would be unbearable."

Leo stood up, his eyes now shining with tears. But this time they felt good. He rushed up to Aeris and hugged her tighter than he ever had before. Shaking he said to her, "I couldn't either… except you know, with you."

Aeris enjoyed the hug for a little, feeling better than she had for what felt like forever. Then she pulled away.

"Good, then it's settled." She smiled. "I'm not going to talk about this again and neither are you, understand?"

Leo nodded vigorously.

Aeris angled her head to one side and added, "But don't you ever forget this, alright?"

"Never," Leo shook his head, "Never in a million years."

Aeris smiled again, "Good."

"Now" she said, running her fingers along the scars on his left cheek, "let's go have a doctor check these out. I can't have you getting an infection"

* * *

><p>After a very long walk, they reached the apartment. Aeris was seething, as soon as she got through the front door she stormed to her room and very deliberately shut the door, to keep from slamming it. She was trying very hard to control herself right now. She dumped her jacket on the floor, fell onto the bed, and shoved her face into her pillow. She didn't cry. She refused to let herself cry. But she couldn't stop the dry sobs that racked her body.<p>

* * *

><p>"I wonder what was wrong with her" Leo wondered aloud to himself. She'd seemed angry, of that Leo was certain, but at what? Had he done something? Leo racked his brains. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary that he could see<em>. Arg! What is it?<em> He _must_ have done something.

But something else struck Leo. Aeris had been angry, that was clear enough, but she hadn't hit him, or yelled at him, or even looked at him. She'd just walked along in front of him, not saying a word. It scared him. Aeris had never done that before.

Leo wasn't a genius; Aeris had made sure to remind him of that often. But he knew that if it was his fault and if he didn't do something then he'd be sorry later and in more ways than one. He had to do something.

Then it came to him, he knew just what to do. He was sure that it would make Aeris very happy. Then she'd forget all about whatever it was that she was mad about and things could go back to normal. Yes, this was going to be great.

* * *

><p>He'd forgotten! How could he? He'd promised. He said to her that he'd never forget. He'd promised. But she'd heard him, clear as day, wondering why they hadn't gotten a stupid game, as if that were all that mattered. <em>Dammit!<em> She'd really though that it had meant something to him. That through that thick skull she'd reached a part of him that was smart enough to care, to remember.

_"I guess I was wrong" _she thought to herself. "_Fine, this changes nothing. He may have broken his promise but I won't. One thing is for sure, though, I am never going to let myself fall for that ever again."_

* * *

><p>Leo took the elevator down to the garage, got off, turned left, and headed towards the the lift that went into the sub-basement, beneath were they kept the generators. Aeris and Leo had chosen this building partly because of its sub-basement. They had a special arrangement with the building manager. They rented out the entire space exclusively for "storage" and in exchange paid him an annual fee for the space.<p>

The arrangement suited both parties. The building manager didn't care what they put in it, even when the large crates started showing up. As long as he got paid it made no difference to him, and he always got paid.

The lift reached the sub-basement and Leo stepped into a cavernous room filled with all manner of technology and weapons. Stealth suits, exo-skeletal enhancement suits, high-tech armor and weapons, low tech armor and weapons. In short, it was an armorer's dream come true.

Leo and Aeris had been to a lot of weird places, sometimes their employers took back the gear they'd been given and sometimes they didn't. Sometimes the equipment was even part of the payment. Whatever the case, whenever there was something worth keeping, Aeris put it down here.

Leo ignored all of it. The object of his interest was more or less in the center of the room, the DeLorean time machine. His plan was to go back in time and stop himself from asking Aeris why they had gotten the game so late, since she'd started getting angry then.

Leo didn't know why, but he figured that had to be why she was so angry. It was brilliant. He'd be there and back in no time, literally. Aeris would never know.

Normally, he would never have dared come in here without Aeris. He wasn't allowed. But this whole situation scared Leo a lot more than Aeris getting angry at him for sneaking in here did. It was terrifying. All the way home he'd felt like he was standing next to a raging volcano that wouldn't go off until it had built up enough pressure to set off a cataclysmic eruption that would shake the very foundations of the land upon which it stood.

Leo was sure Aeris was planning something more horrible than he could possibly imagine. That had to be it. It was the only logical explanation.

It didn't matter though. With his plan the whole thing was going to be averted. There was only one problem. Leo had no idea where Aeris kept the keys.

Well, at least getting into the car wouldn't be a problem; the windows were both rolled down. Leo grabbed a toolbox from one of the shelves, hopped in the car, and started trying to hotwire it.

* * *

><p>After finally reigning in her emotions, Aeris left her room and went looking for Leo to ask where he'd put the game. She needed to distract herself from how she was feeling right now and experimentingwith a new game was just the thing.<p>

"Where did he get to?" Aeris wondered aloud.

Leo wasn't in his room so she searched the living room next. He wasn't there either. But something was peculiar. There, on the couch, was _Battlefield 3_. Leo hadn't even taken it out of the bag.

_"Strange",_ Aeris thought to herself. Normally, Leo would have been playing the game the minute they got home. "_Why would he leave this here? This isn't like Leo." _It made Aeris uncomfortable. Leo acting out of the ordinary could only mean trouble. So she scoured the rest of the apartment hunting for him. Searching the rooms didn't take that long, the apartment wasn't that big, but Aeris checked every space that could conceivably fit Leo inside it just to be sure.

After a fruitless search, Aeris tried calling Leo on his cell phone. No called Pantsman, Krug, and even Ternaldo to see if he'd made any plans with them. Nothing. Aeris was beginning to feel extremely nervous at this point and went down to the front desk to ask if the doorman had seen Leo go by. He hadn't.

Aeris turned around and walked into the center of the lobby rubbing her chin in thought.

All the repelling gear was in the sub-basement and their apartment was on the 13th floor. That meant that Leo was either still somewhere in the building, had snuck past the front desk for some reason… or that he was in the garage. Aeris shook her head, frustrated.

Leo had no reason to just wander the building aimlessly and she couldn't think of any kind of motive for Leo to want to sneak past the front desk, though Aeris chose not to discard either theory entirely just yet.

However, it seemed to Aeris that most likely possibility was that Leo had chosen to leave the building through the garage instead of the front door for some reason. That could be it. Leo's stream of logic was near impossible to follow.

He could've gone into the sub-basement but Aeris doubted that. No, she shook her head; Leo wouldn't go into the sub-basement without her. He knew what she would do to him if he did.

_"Still", _Aeris thought to herself_," I'd better check, just in case. It's right there, after all."_ So Aeris strode into the elevator, thinking of where she would look for Leo after she was finished with the basement.

* * *

><p>Leo had really started to panic when he'd checked his phone and saw that it was Aeris calling. That must mean she was looking for him, it was the only time Aeris called. He was sure she'd be there any minute and then… "<em>Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! I gotta' get outa' here!"<em>

In his mad scramble to gather up the tools he'd been using from the floor of the car, Leo inadvertently knocked open the glove compartment. Leo's eyes widened in amazement. There they were, the keys, shining dully in their magnificent glory!

Dropping the tools, Leo put the keys into the ignition and started the car. The sound of the V6 engine thrumming to life filled the sub-basement. It was the most beautiful sound Leo had ever heard. He was going to make it!

He steered the DeLorean onto the lift and headed up, inputting the desired date and time into the control panels as he did so. He could already see the light of the garage.

* * *

><p>Aeris exited the elevator just as Leo drove off the lift. Aeris and Leo locked eyes for an instant. Leo's eyes were widened in horror, the visage of pure supreme terror. Aeris's were the image of unabated rage, if looks could kill Leo would have just been hit by a thermo-nuclear warhead.<p>

Leo floored it. It was a straight shot to exit, if he could just make it past Aeris and get out of the garage he would be scot free. Aeris was fast but she couldn't outrun a car.

The DeLorean couldn't pull zero to sixty that quickly, though, and before Leo could make it out of the garage Aeris took a running leap and, with the grace of her species, launched herself headlong through the open window to the right of the driver's seat and slammed into Leo. But Leo had made it out of the garage and still had his foot to the floor.

"What are you doing you moron!" Aeris screamed at him.

"I-" Leo began, trying to get as far away from Aeris as possible in the limited space and still keep his eyes on road.

"Get the fuck out of the driver's seat!"

"Okay Okay." Leo switched places with Aeris awkwardly. Somehow through all this the DeLorean just kept accelerating, like the gas pedal wasn't working properly.

Aeris slammed down on the brakes with the full force of her entire body weight… Nothing happened. She tried again, pushing the break pedal to the floor. Still nothing.

"What the-" Aeris tried the brakes again to no avail, steering through traffic as she did. She turned to Leo, who was searching franticly for something, and bellowed, "What did you do?"

Leo raised his hands defensively, "I thought I could start the car if I took off the part that kept it from starting. I didn't know which one it was so I just took off a whole bunch."

"You what!" Aeris's eyes widened in horror. "Oh Jesus, how do I stop this thing?"

At that moment Leo raised his arm triumphantly, a wrench in hand, "I'll stop it!" and slammed his arm down toward the control panel.

"Leo don't!" Aeris yelled. Too late, the wrench connected with the panel sending bits of plastic and sparks everywhere.

"God Dammit Leo! What'd you do that for!" she didn't wait for his answer and started working at the brake again in a frenzied and panicked attempt to stop them.**"** Okay. Okay. I can still stop this. Augh what do I do?"

Aeris stopped and forced herself to regain enough composure to hasten Leo, "Ok Leo. I need you to tell me exactly what you took out?"

The speedometer was rising rapidly and parts of the car were beginning to glow blue. Once they reached 88 miles per hour the flux capacitor behind them would activate and they'd make the leap. They were driving up a moderate incline, but that left them almost no time before they were god knows where.

Leo looked as panicked as Aeris felt,"Erm, lots of stuff. I cut the lines with the nice smelling stuff, I took away some of the engine bits, I cut some wires, and uh… a spring from the speed pedal thingy."

"The return spring!" Aeris reached for the accelerator so she could pull back the pedal manually. In that moment the speedometer reached eighty eight and the glow of the flux capacitor went from a steady pulse to a continuous stream. In an eruption of plasma the DeLorean vanished to the sound of Aeris screaming.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Aha, you grasp now the depths of my brilliance. For the title you see, it is a jest.**

**In all seriousness, a worthy chapter, I think.** **If you agree then that is excellent, for I aim to please.**

**But now I've left you with two major questions to answer. From whence might these answers be obtained, you ask?**

**There is but one way to find out... TO THE NEXT CHAPTER, WE RIDE!**


	4. Chapter Four: Landing a homicide

**Chapter four: Landing - a homicide **

* * *

><p>They landed in a huge field of mud. The momentum from their entry carried them a fair distance but before long they stopped, the wheels spinning uselessly in the mud.<p>

Aeris sat with her head against the steering wheel, staring emptily at nothing. But before long she sat up. She noticed that the motor was still running, if they ran out of gas they'd be in serious trouble.

So Aeris turned the key in the ignition and took the key out, stopping the car… Aeris stared at the keys, and slapped herself on the forehead. "_Stupid!"_

Aeris turned towards Leo and noticed that rather than cowering in fear, Leo was staring out his window, mesmerized. Looking past him, Aeris saw why. The view was breathtaking.

Where Toronto had once been there was now a colossal jungle valley. Behind the car was the side of a colossal cliff. A few miles to the southeast Aeris could see a monolithic crescent shaped waterfall, more than two hundred feet high and five hundred feet wide. Everywhere else, they could see was covered in jungle growth.

_"Wait, jungle, in Canada?"  
><em>  
>"Oh fuck" Aeris groaned. She bowed her head and cupped her face in her hands.<p>

As if noticing Aeris for the first time Leo turned around. He realized then, who he was in the car with and, more importantly, what had just happened. At that same moment Aeris looked up.

Aeris had a certain look when she was really angry. Her shoulders would hunch, her eyes would narrow and fill with ice, glinting. Her brows would darken, shadowing her eyes almost completely. Sometimes, her lips curled back unveiling her left fangs. When she had that look, Leo knew he was doomed, and she had it now.

Leo scrambled for the door handle and had it open when Aeris shot at him from her seat, sending them both sprawling in the mud. Aeris reached for Leo's throat but he flipped onto his stomach to try and get on his feet, so instead, Aeris attempted to seize the back of his head and force it into the mud and suffocate him.

But the back of Leo's head was already covered in mud and was slippery. With Leo thrashing underneath her, Aeris slipped and lost her grip on him entirely. When she fell off him, Leo crawled away franticly and unsteadily rose to his feet.

Aeris regained her footing at about the same time and once again tried to hurl herself at Leo, but her feet slipped in the mud and instead she fell forward and ended up face planting comically in the mud.

Leo watched and couldn't help himself; he started laughing uncontrollably at Aeris's blunder. While Leo was waving around laughing, he too lost his balance and fell over, landing on the back of his head.

While he did that, Aeris clawed her way towards him murderously. But before she could reach him Leo noticed and it became a race of who could swim faster in mud. Eventually Leo reached the perimeter of their mud field and got to his feet once again. Aeris was close behind and he sprinted for all he was worth. By the time Aeris had regained her own footing Leo was already a quarter of the way around. Aeris was beginning to tire now, but that didn't matter. She screeched at the top of her lungs and gave chase.

For the better part of several hours it went like this. Leo and Aeris worked themselves to exhaustion. Aeris was fueled by pure boiling rage and Leo by his determination to live. Throughout the chase they continually slowed.

Leo had only so many places to run though and Aries had been getting ever closer to him as time had gone by. And then she caught him in a dive that was half tackle and half collapse.

Leo didn't have the energy to cringe or even cover his face. He just sat there, gasping for breath. Panting heavily on top of Leo, Aeris stared down at her victim. Now she had him… and she was too tired to care. She toppled off him and rolled over onto her back next to him.

"God Dammit Leo", she wheezed, "Why the hell did you have to go and-" she hacked for a little while, "- fuck shit up this badly?"

Leo rolled his head to the side to look at Aeris and choked, "I thought I'd go back and-", he stifled a fit of coughing,"- fix whatever it was that made you mad at me earlier."

Aeris blinked, confused, and then it all came flooding back. She turned her head away from Leo. She didn't want to look at him anymore.

Between coughs, she managed a strangled, "I see."

Leo was again puzzled by Aeris's reaction to what had happened earlier that day, or what he supposed _had_ been that day, now that they were… wherever. He still had no idea why she'd been so angry or, for that matter, why she hadn't tried to kill him back then.

He knew she'd had him a moment ago and still she hadn't killed him, or even touched him. By Leo's estimation, that meant that he was either in the clear or that Aeris was as dead as he was and couldn't conjure the energy to do much of anything. In either case, now was the time to ask.

"Aeris?"

"What is it Leo?" she rumbled.

"Why were you so mad this morni- I mean, back then?"

That did it. Aeris was furious, tired, miserable, cold, wet, and covered in mud. She was entirely overwhelmed by everything; their situation, where they were, everything. That Leo would bring that up now was what pushed her past the breaking point. Aeris couldn't help it, she started sobbing.

Before she could stop herself she wailed, "Because you forgot Leo!"

As confused as ever Leo stared at Aeris's like he'd never seen her before. This was not the Aeris he knew and understood. That Aeris was an Aeris of cold fury and rage induced violence, always in control of herself if not her anger. She was not this person, whimpering next to him like the world was coming down around her head. Aeris did not do that.

In his tangled state of mind he dared ask, "Forgot what? What did I forget? Aeris what's going on, what's the matter with you?"

"What's going on?" Aeris whispered.

Louder this time, she answered in full, "What's going on is that you broke your promise." She turned again and faced him directly, eyesfilled with anger and pain, "You said you'd never forget that day. Not ever. But you did. You did and you acted like it never happened at all. Like it was just another day where you did something stupid, broke things, and then I had to come in and save your sorry ass."

Leo's eyes widened as he realized what Aeris was talking about. He lifted himself off the ground and leaned in towards Aeris as much as his spent muscles would allow and whispered into her ear, "Aeris, were not supposed to talk about the day with the cranes-."

_"Cranes?" _Aeris's mind raced._ "I didn't mention the cranes? How did he-"_

"- you told me not to talk about that again, remember Aeris?"

Aeris's eyebrows shot up higher than she could ever remember and her eyes widened to match. Could it be that the idiot had just been wondering why she, specifically, hadn't bought the game for her own use? It couldn't be.

Aeris turned back to Leo and demanded, "Leo, forget what I said. Tell me everything you remember from that day. I want to hear every little detail. Then I want you to tell me exactly why you asked me why we didn't buy _Battlefield 3_ sooner."

Leo fell onto his back and did exactly as he was told, relaying the entire story back to her in every detail he could manage. Aeris watched Leo carefully throughout. As she listened to how Leo told it, Aeris felt a soft warmth spreading through her.

Just before the end, he took a breath and finished, "-and the reason I asked was that it seemed unusual for you not to buy a game like _Battlefield_ 3 for yourself sooner. I was waiting for you to buy it." He shrugged and looked at the sky through the trees, "It just seemed weird is all."

Leo looked back at Aeris now, tentatively, worried about what her reaction would be. What he saw was definitely not what he expected. Aeris was smiling at him more warmly than he could ever remember, her eyes glistening with old tears and new ones. The sky had darkened and her eyes were glowing.

Even through the mud, she was stunning. Leo had never seen Aeris like this and seeing it now captivated him.

"Leo," Aeris purred

Leo edged up closer to Aeris and murmured under his breath, "Yes"

"You are a perfect idiot", and Aeris punched Leo solidly in the nose.

"Ouch!" Leo yelped, rubbing his abused nose, "Aeris! What'd you do that fo-"

Aeris reached up, grabbed Leo, and kissed him on the cheek.

Leo froze mid-sentence, agape, and stared at Aeris with disbelief.

Aeris didn't give Leo a chance to gather himself.

"Come on" she said, getting up. "I'm tired and we're going back to the car to sleep. There's no way I'm staying out here."

As she finished, Aeris proffered a hand to a still dumbstruck Leo.

He looked up at Aeris like a leaf before the wind.

"Well come on" she beckoned.

**"…**Okay**"**

Aeris heaved Leo up onto his feet and they started walking**.**

* * *

><p>They made their way back to the edge of the mud field. When they got there they stood side by side and made their way through that. Trembling from fatigue and cold, they almost fell in several times, but one always caught the other until, finally, they reached the car.<p>

Getting in, Aeris shut the door behind her and rolled the windows all the way to the top. She instructed Leo to do the same. Though she hadn't noticed anything unusual about the air outside, Aeris was still unsure of whether or not their environment was entirely livable.

She'd installed an air filtration system in the DeLorean after the dust incident with the Rod Stewart look-alike, and until she'd had an opportunity to actually have the air tested she wasn't going to take any more chances than she had already allowed.

She was just drifting off to sleep against the door when Leo asked from next to her, "Aeris?"

"Yes Leo" she grumbled irritably.

"What was the kiss about?"

Aeris's eyes shot open. "_Why the hell did I kiss Leo?" _

Fortunately for Aeris she couldn't see that Leo was grinning to himself in delight, it would have made answering the question all the more difficult.

Aeris realized Leo was still waiting for an answer. She had to say something before he got suspicious. She settled on, "Not now Leo, I'm trying to sleep. Now go to bed."

Leo recognized that tone and he wasn't going to argue. "Ok Aeris, see you in the morning. Thanks for-," he paused, considering his next words, "…not killing me."

Aeris blinked; glad he couldn't see her face. Her cheeks and ears felt hot for some reason.

"Yeah… no problem Leo…" Aeris couldn't think of anything else to say so she just said,"Now get some rest. Tomorrow your helping me fix this thing."

"Ok… ", Leo shifted uncomfortably, "Goodnight Aeris."

"Yeah, goodnight Leo"

Both exhausted, they fell asleep in minutes. They slept like stones and dreamed of empty things that would drift away like mist in the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And here you were perhaps thinking I was going to kill someone. Nonsense. One cannot have romance with only one. **

**Ah yes, another sentimental chapter. But one with violence too. Don't you all love the violence? I hope so because there will be more, I guarantee.**

**Violence aside, one must wonder, when in goodness grandmas gravy could they possibly have landed?**

** Well, if you want to find out, you know where to go... Into. The Next. CHAPTER!  
><strong>


	5. Chapter Five: Hunting

**Chapter Five: Hunting**

* * *

><p>When Aeris woke up the next day she felt completely normal. This belayed some of her worries from the day previous regarding the air. In most cases, if it was, she would be feeling it by now.<p>

The first thing she did was look at the meters and gauges of the air filtration system to see if the air outside had turned out to be toxic. As expected, it had proved to be completely breathable. With that having been done, Aeris chose not to concern herself with where Leo was, for he had in fact gone missing again.

He could wreak as much havoc as he like in the jungle. It wasn't like anybody would be around to chastise him for it. She wasn't concerned for his safety either. No matter what he did, Leo was always fine in the end. It was a trait that Aeris had learned to use to its fullest advantage. Still, better to have some idea as to where he was.

So Aeris left the car and searched for the footprints Leo would have left when he decided to wander off. She saw them almost immediately. The tracks indicated that Leo had made his way around the front of the car and headed northwest.

The car was facing north, so he'd headed a little to the left. Aeris followed the tracks to the outer rim of the mud field. Yesterday Aeris had been scrambling furiously to murder Leo and had been trying to sprint in the mud, resulting in her inability to stay on her this time, instead of slipping and falling everywhere like she had yesterday, Aeris smoothly forged her way to the rim without the slightest effort.

Now that Aeris was calm and in control of herself, her body had the opportunity to employ one of the many advantages of being a humanoid cat. Situated deep in a cat's inner ear is the vestibular apparatus, an organ which is what gave Leo and Aeris their remarkable sense of balance… or Aeris at least. It seemed that Leo suffered some sort of deficiency which caused him to fall all over himself, though for some reason never at crucial moments, which had always puzzled Aeris.

The vestibular apparatus consists of tiny chambers covered with millions of sensitive hairs and filled with fluid and minute floating crystals. When a cat moves suddenly, the sensitive hairs detect the movement of the fluid and crystals and send signals to the brain, notifying it of the body's position. Whenever a cat loses its balance and actually falls, the vestibular apparatus helps them determine which direction is up. This triggers the "righting" reflex which allows them to turn themselves in midair and land squarely on their feet. Together with the tail, which acts as a counterbalance, the cat uses this to perform immense feats of acrobatic skill or in this case, make ones way through extremely slippery mud with relative ease.  
>When she reached the end of the field Aeris stopped, deliberating on where she thought Leo would go now. Like any cat, Aeris could track, but it wasn't her strongest skill and getting lost in the jungle was not something they could afford to waste time on right now. She turned her back to the jungle and rubbed her eyebrows, deep in thought.<p>

Preoccupied, Aeris didn't notice a large shape move about thirty five feet from where she was standing. Crouched on all fours it looked solid enough, though its camouflage didn't suit the brush very well. In fact it almost would have stood out if not for the thickness of the brush. Slowly, it padded its way closer, inches from the ground as it stalked Aeris, who remained unaware of its presence.

It stopped, no more than ten feet away, and still Aeris didn't see it. Rolling its incredibly flexible shoulders, the creature tested the ground with its hind legs, careful to ensure it was solid. Satisfied with the result the creature crouched forward, tipped its pelvis, and bent at the hips, knees, and ankles. Then it shot into a leap, contracting its muscles and extending its joints as it did, anticipating the impact. Midway there it roared its triumph.

Turning around Aeris grabbed Leo in midair and, using the momentum he'd already gathered, effortlessly tossed him face first in the mud.

Her ears were for more than just balance.

A cat can hear more than one and a half octaves above the range of a human and can detect tone variations of just one tenth. It can hear up to five times as far as humans and can turn its ears a hundred and eighty degrees to pinpoint a sounds origin and to determine how big what made the sound it is. With all this, it should come as no surprise that Aeris heard Leo clear as a bell when his body went through the brush during his leap, to say nothing of his shouting.

Leo slid for several feet before coming to a stop, leaving a Leo sized rut in the mud.

Eloquent as always Leo proclaimed with great dignity from the mud, "Glurmph, at phurt ieoo ift."

Aeris snorted and smiled crookedly as she snickered.

Leo lifted his front out of the mud, it was covered entirely in mud and his face was thoroughly masked with it. Leo spluttered, blowing chunks of mud from his face, and wiped down the rest with his hand. Then he started spitting out large clumps of mud. Apparently his mouth had still been open when he landed.

Scraping his tongue with his hand, Leo succeeded only in adding more mud to his tongue, since his hands were covered in it. Realizing this he shook his head and continued to spit profusely in disgust, spouting unintelligible nonsense all the while.

Aeris, having regained her composure, had sat down to enjoy the spectacle some time ago and sat there still, awaiting his return, a smile gracing her features.

Leo, finally relieved from the taste of mud, made his way back and stood before her indignant.

"Humph, very nice of you to laugh at someone else's suffering", he said haughtily.

Aeris smiled wider and replied loftily, "Pfft, you brought that on yourself entirely and you know it."

Leo sniffed defiantly, but conceded her point.

Aeris looked up at Leo's newly muddied profile, "What were you thinking when you left anyway? Were you planning to pounce on me from the beginning or what?"

Leo perked up and looked at Aeris proudly, "Yes, and it almost worked too, I nearly had you ther- Ouch!" Leo swatted at his neck and, drawing away his left hand, revealed a dart. Eyes widening he exclaimed in irritation, "Well, dammit. I hate these thingszzz…"

Leo collapsed next to Aeris, deeply asleep.

Aeris stared at his body agape for an instant before leaping to her feet and diving for the brush before whoever was shooting them got could line up a second shot. Not a moment too soon either, as a dart buried itself behind where Aeris had stood moments before. Aeris didn't see this though, as she sprinted through the jungle growth, weaving through trees and low hanging vines, her thoughts racing.

She could run, but she couldn't go far, Leo was still there. Besides, even if he wasn't, the DeLorean was. She guessed that there was only one person hunting her. Or at least only one armed with a dart gun. Otherwise they would have shot Leo and Aeris at the same time, rather than giving one an opportunity to escape.

She couldn't discount the possibility that there were more though. This one had gone unnoticed and most humans couldn't do that on an ordinary day. So she could either assume that this human was either very well equipped, very skilled, or that her hunter was not human.

In any case, she couldn't run into the jungle for long, she would have to go back sooner or later. Aeris stopped, now a good distance from where they'd been attacked. Sooner, she decided, and turned around.

* * *

><p><em>"Heh, Leo probably would have gone charging strait back"<em>, Aeris thought to herself tersely.

She'd considered doing exactly that herself at first but, unlike Leo, Aeris thought things through before rushing in. What she eventually decided on doing was finding a suitable place to hide. She'd been heading east before and thought she could hear the river by now.

The hunter would probably guess that she'd gone east at first and then maybe headed north, away from him… or it. Aeris knew that he'd be after her before long so she decided she'd scale a nearby tree and see if she could discern what was going on back at camp while she still could.

She searched quickly until she found a suitable tree. It was tall, noticeably so. From its upper reaches Aeris saw that it stood taller than all its brethren. Climbing higher and higher, Aeris nimbly made it to a point high enough to see for miles around.

Cats can see in a sixth of the light necessary for human, but they can also see five times as far as humans can. So when Aeris sat obscured by the thick foliage of the tree, scanning the southwest horizon for the reflective sheen of the DeLorean, she saw it almost immediately. Yes, there she saw it, and behind it she saw… a ship?

Yes, it was, without a doubt, a large space craft.

_"Well, I guess we know more or less where we are now", _she thought. Looking at the ship, the implications of its presence began crowding her thoughts._ "Hmm, it's been a long time since our century, but maybe that's a good thing. If we can get out of this, we might be able to get back faster than I thought."_

Looking on she saw that the crew was moving the DeLorean out of the mud and towards the ship. "_Dammit! How am I supposed to get Leo out and then get the DeLorean back without getting caught? That ship is huge, I'd have no idea where to start."_

Now that she knew where the DeLorean was, Aeris revised her search to look for Leo. Before long she spotted him and saw that they were moving Leo onto the ship as well. The blue of his clothing sticking out from the drab shades of grey and green the crewmembers wore_. _

_"… fuck, now what am I going to do. Now even if I get one, then I still have to search the whole ship for the other."_ If there had been just the one hunter with no ship, Aeris would have been fairly confident that she could handle things. But a whole shipload of enemies was beyond her and she knew it.

It was at this moment that Aeris began to wonder how an entire ship and its crew had gone unnoticed. Listening now, she could hear its engines from here, almost a mile away. It struck her that either they'd used a cloaking device or, more likely, the hunter had hailed the ship to pick up the prize only after he'd shot Leo.

In all the places and times Aeris and Leo had been to Aeris had seen many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pieces of new and amazing technology, but few could mask the almighty din emanating from that ship.

That left still one question unanswered. How had their assailant snuck up on them?

Before she could think of an answer she heard the faint thrum of a powerful engine coming from the northwest. It was getting louder very quickly, coming from her right. Receding towards the trunk, Aeris hid herself as best she could until she saw much smaller scout ship come flying past her tree towards camp.

_"Fuck. Now what's going on?" _

She watched as it landed near its larger counterpart. Things were getting worse in a hurry and Aeris knew she had to think of something quickly. At this rate she was sure something horrible was just around the corner.

Just then Aeris heard something whizz behind her ears followed immediately by a wooden thud to her left. She looked up and saw a dart buried in the branch above her.

_"The scout ship! It must have dropped him off. But how did they find me?" _

Aeris snapped her eyes in the direction the dart had come from and saw nothing. Abandoning any the notion of catching her pursuer, she rushed to the end of her branch and jumped for it. Falling down through the air Aeris heard another dart whizz by to her right. Then her claws latched onto one of the branches on the next tree. Her momentum carried he forward and she swung down to the next branch and moved around to the other side of the trunk, away from the dart gun. Her heart racing, Aeris jumped into the next tree.

Over and over Aeris did this, moving from tree to tree as fast as her limbs would carry her, darts flying past all the while. She was heading southeast, towards the waterfall, and making good time through the trees. Before long she couldn't hear any darts being fired but she kept running, the more distance between them the better.

Then she was there, in front of the waterfall, the massive sound of the water crashing against the rocks below all but deafening. This last tree was right by the water's edge, its roots reaching into the muddy shoal that had once been dry land. Aeris could go no further, or at least, not in that direction.

She hesitated, she couldn't go back the way she'd come and she definitely couldn't scale the cliff. Swimming across the river was out of the question. The currents here would kill her for sure. If she followed the river she was almost sure to run into the hunter. She couldn't rely on visual stealth, the brush was thick, but the bright pink of her fur and clothes would stick out in all but the thickest vegetation. She had to think of a plan and quickly.

Aeris had to think. How could she fight this thing? She racked her brain, taking stock of her situation. Her adversary had excellent camouflage. That was evident. What else did it have? A gun? Clearly. Ok, what else?

For the moment that was all Aeris could think of. Now, how to fight such an enemy? She reached up and wiped some condensed mist from the waterfall's spray off her face**.** Aeris looked at her hand. I spark of thought ignited in her head. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she looked closer. The spark became a full blown flame and an idea took shape.

Looking down, she scanned the ground for anything, anything at all. She listened. She smelled the air. Nothing. She couldn't be sure, but she had to move now. Another opportunity might not present itself and she was desperate.

As quickly as possible, Aeris shimmied down the tree. Before she reached the ground she stopped. There were two banks, the upper grassy one and then the mud of the lower shoal. Aeris balanced nimbly on the roots, searching. She couldn't touch the mud yet. She would leave tracks.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. A dark alcove formed by the thick roots. Aeris turned around, crouched, grip the root she was on, dropped her legs, and swung herself into the alcove. Once in, she went as far back as the space would allow. After that she began covering her fur and clothing with the mud she found there. She needed to hide the colors.

When she finished she smirked just a little. "_Heh, this is just like the first "Predator" movie."_

Now fully masked in mud Aeris paused, listened for any sounds of her second shadow. She heard none. Either it was following her trial, still too far back to hear yet, she'd lost it, or… or it was close by, making no sound, waiting for an opportunity.

The constant roar from the falls would perhaps help her in some small way. She could only guess that her hearing was better than her pursuers and that she would gain the upper hand where the sound of running water would mask the sound of her movements. Looking back between the roots she could see the shore. She kept her eyes glued to it, listening for the slightest sound.

Aeris sat waiting, her heart pounding in her chest, breathing tightly controlled, for five minutes… then ten minutes… then fifteen minutes.

This plan was crazy, it was a desperate gamble made by a person dangling over the maw of almost certain doom. Twenty minutes went by and still nothing.

* * *

><p>Aeris saw the brush move. It was unnatural. It parted in wake of something, but she couldn't see what. Once the invisible thing glided out of the jungle Aeris couldn't tell where it was anymore.<p>

Now was the crucial moment where Aeris would find out if she was doomed or not.

Then it happened, just as Aeris had hoped**,** water began to condense around an indistinct shape that seconds before had appeared to be nothing but another nondescript patch of air. **I**t solidified into a humanoid mass of condensing water droplets.

Its head shifted. It was looking down, right where Aeris was, then it lifted its arm and tried to wipe away at the water. It didn't help. Eventually it submitted to the inevitable and chose to ignore it. Shouldering it's now semi-visible rifle it began to pace up the shore until it stopped, right above Aeris. She could see it almost clearly now, and the shape was distinctly human and, based on its build, male. It was crouching down now, rifle barrel pointed into the roots, but she couldn't see its face yet. She watched it stand and leap down into the lower bank.

It waded around the roots, getting closer and closer to the entrance to her hiding place, rifle up and pointed at the roots all the while. Aeris saw the barrel come into view of the entrance.

Aeris's heart was in her throat by now and controlling her breathing became all but impossible. She had one chance. If she didn't get this thing now she knew that there would be no hope for her or Leo. She had to act now.

As its face came into view, Aeris grabbed a fistful of mud and threw it directly between where its eyes should be. As he reeled back to get the mud off Aeris sprang from her hiding place and vaulted toward the hunter.

By that time the mud was gone and the hunter had shouldered its rifle. But it was too slow. Before it could get a shot off Aeris was on top of it gripping the rifle.

Locked onto the rifle, it became a contest of skill and strength. The hunter was capable and he was stronger than Aeris, but he did not have claws. Taking a hand off the rifle, Aeris racked hers down the side of his face. The hunter let loose a muffled scream, but its suit had a visor of some sort. Aeris had felt a hard shell covering most of its face.

So she went for something else, his throat. Digging her claws through what felt like fabric she set herself to literally rip his throat out. But with only one hand on the rifle, the hunter was able to slam the butt of it into her head.

She didn't fall but the force of the blow sent her staggering back. She lost her grip on the rifle completely.

Rifle free, her hunter tried to line up a shot again. And again Aeris was right back in. Too close for a shot.

This time Aeris went for the rifle with both hands and tried to knee the hunter in the groin. But each time she tried he would yank her to the side and she'd miss.

Aeris changed tactics again and went in with the most basic thing she could think of. Using her elongated fangsshe bit his left hand as hard as she possibly could, ripping away at it.

Shrieking in pain he yanked back his hand. Aeris and went straight for his exposed middle. He doubled over and Aeris went in for his throat. She missed, but hit his jaw instead. As he reeled back she grabbed the rifle barrel and planted her foot in his chest, sending him clear off his feet. He lost his grip and now Aeris had the rifle. The hunter lay sprawling on the ground clutching his chest.

The problem Aeris now encountered was that she couldn't see that damned thing, whatever made the hunter invisible did the same for the rifle and Aeris didn't have time to learn how to use it. The thing was worthless, so Aeris turned around threw it in the water.

Aeris smirked, now he was hers.

She turned to face him. There was a loud crack and Aeris felt a sharp pain embed itself in her abdomen. She fell to her knees and looked down. Her stomach had a dart in it. Looking up she saw that the hunter was pointing at her, something in his hand.

As the chemicals worked at her mind Aeris wondered, "_How did he do that? I had his gun. How did he… do… it…?"_

All her muscles relaxed and Aeris fell into the water. Her eyes shut and she faded into the blackness.

The struggle had lasted about a minute.

The hunter deactivated its camouflage, revealing a partially reflective black body suit with a black face visor. Looking down at Aeris's sleeping form it released a muffled chuckle and holstered its pistol. Then in one fluid motion picked up Aeris and began to walk nonchalantly back towards the ship, a muffled humming following it all the way there.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I doubt the chapter could have been more of a hint. Haha, now we have that action that every story needs. But we need yet more, do we not? I think so, perhaps there will be, but who knows (aha only I).**

**Truly, this chapter took me a consider able effort. The waterfall is based off of a real one called the Devils throat. The name of the entire waterfall is Iguaza falls in Brazil. I was researching waterfalls for days to ensure that I had the correct dimensions to produce enough mist for this scene. **

**Speaking of which, I rather like this scene. Hope you like the new proverbial plot twist. Ah, but where will this twist take us? Hmmm, perhaps we find out in... THE NEXT CHAPTER!**


	6. Chapter six: A Game Between Titans

**Chapter six: A Game Between Titans**

* * *

><p>A violent shudder ran through the entire ship as its engines roared to life, waking Aeris with a jolt.<p>

"Gyaah! Whosa' watsa' whas goin on?" As her vision cleared Aeris saw that she was lying on the floor of a grey metal cell. Roughly fifteen by twenty feet and somewhat poorly lit, the only thing Aeris saw in it was the plain brown blanket she was swathed in. Rubbing her forehead, she noticed something rattling against her wrist. It was a dull grey metal cuff, a bracelet really, perfectly circular but with a small green light glowing from what felt like the heavier part of the cuff. As she shifted her feet, Aeris found that she had two cuffs there as well. "_Super." _

Aeris heard a metallic rattle come from behind her. "Oh wonderful, your awake." said a voice.

Aeris leapt to her feat and spun around in surprise, claws extended. "Who's there?" Immediately she noticed a shape, shrouded in shadow, rising out of a corner behind her bedding.

"Whoa whoa Aeris, cool it, it's just me, Leo." said a mud plastered Leo as he raised his hands defensively. She noticed a pair of cuffs dangling from his wrists too.

"Jeezus Leo what were you doing there?"

Leo looked pensive for a second and shrugged. "Standing."

Aeris rolled her eyes crossly, "I can see that, I meant _why_ were you standing there?"

Leo grinned pleasantly, "Well, no reason really. There's nothing to do in here, and as it happens, you mutter in your sleep." His grin widened. "You have interesting dreams, Aeris. I do wonder what-"

"Shut up" Aeris cut him off. The tone was both embarrassed and threatening.

Neither was lost on Leo, who once again raised his hands, still grinning wickedly, "Alright alright, I'm just saying." His face suddenly became serious, "I didn't want to wake you up before, you'd get mad about that, but now that you're up I have to ask. What the hell happened out there? "

Aeris was stricken. Honestly she was as baffled about this as Leo. She had no idea why they'd been attacked, or who'd attacked them, or for what purpose they were being kept alive, and she had no qualms with saying so.

"Frankly Leo I'm not sure. I can't figure who did this or why. The only thing I know for sure is that for some reason they want us alive… for the moment."

Leo studied Aeris for a moment and moved on to his next thought, "Alright, next question. What happened while I was out? The last thing I remember was a dart and a face full of mud… again."

Aeris snickered. Then her mood dampened as her mind trailed back to what felt like only moments ago. Sitting back down in her blankets she began to relay to Leo exactly what he'd missed out on.

Leo reseated himself and listened quietly through the story, riveted. He interrupted only once, to ask how she'd thought of her mist plan.

Aeris rubbed the back of her neck and grinned sheepishly, "Actually, I was thinking of the movie _Predator."_

Leo's eyes widened in awe. "Oh my god! That is so ridiculously awesome! Aeris, that's the coolest thing ever. Dammit, why'd I have to get shot and miss out on all the fun?"

Aeris smiled and finished the story, telling Leo what happened just before the fight and, finally, how it had ended.

As she finished Leo's jaw dropped and he asked, astonished, "Wait, hang on a minute. Are you saying that you, Aeris, lost the fight?"

Aeris's smile darkened into a deep frown, "…Yeah, yeah I did." She shook her head angrily and started raving to the wall opposite her, "I can't believe I didn't think he'd have a sidearm. I mean come on, were probably hundreds of years in the future and the super stealth hunter isn't going to have a fucking secondary?"

Leo was still hung over on the fact that Aeris had lost and was ignoring her frustration completely. "So, you lost?"

Aeris whipped her head back at Leo, "Yes Leo, I lost! I don't need you to remind me!"

Leo backed into his wall a little, "I know, I know, I just can't believe it, that's all."

Aeris calmed down a little and sighed, "Yeah, I know. I can't either." She flipped her arm out, gesturing towards one of the walls, "Especially now that we're stuck here at the mercy of who ever these guys are." She paused,"How long have you been awake anyway?"

Leo shrugged, "A few hours maybe, I don't know, I don't have a watch and I left my phone next to my bed earlier."

Aeris sighed. "Yeah… I figured. It doesn't really matter anyway."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens." Leo began pacing while Aeris stared at the ground on front of her, brooding. "I sure wish I'd brought my DS or PSP with me, though." He looked up hopefully, "I don't suppose you have yours, do you?"

Aeris shook her head without looking up, "No Leo, I didn't think that I would be needing to entertain myself for hours in a small steel box when I went looking for you in our apartment, oh I don't know, a few hundred years ago."

"Darn", Leo sulked, and resumed pacing, muttering to himself in agitation. He brought his index finger to his upper lip and rubbed his chin, pondering how he would occupy himself for the foreseeable future while Aeris sat brooding.

Then an idea struck. Walking up to the cell door, Leo rapped his hand against it and called out cheerfully, "Hello, is anybody there! I'd like to know where I am please! Helloooo?"

And so Leo waited… and waited… and waited still. And after much waiting, it became apparent that nobody was going to answer his question. And so, rocking back and forth on his heels, Leo attempted to devise a different stratagem. And then a second idea struck.

Walking back up to the door Leo rapped his hand against it again shouted, far less cheerfully, "Alright you addle headed idiots! I _demand_ to know where it is that I am this instant and, in addition to that, why we are here!" He paused dramatically, "Come forth _now _or face my wrath!"

"Enough Leo!" Aeris barked, looking up this time, "Look Leo, there's no way that you're going to get them to do much of anything. We don't even know if they speak the same language as us or, for that matter, if English even still exists as a living language. Just give it a rest for while, ok."

Leo slumped theatrically in defeat, "Oh, fine. Our fates are sealed anyway, we're surely doomed."

Aeris's frown deepened, "Leo, would you stop treating this like a joke for one minute, please?"

Leo walked back to Aeris disarmingly, "Well I was only trying to lighten the mood. No sense worrying over something we can't change."

Aeris paused, absorbing what Leo had just said. In his way, Leo could sometimes provide a small measure of comfort in otherwise bleak situations. Now that he wasn't being loud or obnoxious, Aeris could admit that he had a point.

"Alright Leo, I'll accept that, but will you please just be still for now-" Aeris yawned. Despite her drug induced sleep, she was still feeling fairly beat. "-I can't sleep with you talking to doors."

"Alright then, I was going to go to sleep anyway. I've actually been awake for a while now." Leo walked back to his corner and sat his back against the wall, trying to get comfortable.

Aeris did too, but the floor was cold and hard and didn't offer much in the way of comfort. At this time she noticed that Leo wasn't having any success either and that he was rubbing his arms with his hands to ward himself from the light chill of the walls.

Looking down at herself Aeris noticed that she was using the only blanket.

Aeris stood up and walked over to Leo, sitting down next to him. He opened his mouth to say something but Aeris cut him off and shook her head. "No no. No talking. I just noticed you were cold. I've got a blanket and I'm _still_ cold." She removed the blanket from her shoulders. "We're going to share, alright. Maybe the combined body heat and the blanket will make it warmer. But no talking, or I'll go back over there and you can be cold alone."

Leo nodded and Aeris draped the large blanket around them and curled up to Leo, their shoulders barely touching.

Aeris didn't think twice, she laid her head on Leo's shoulder. It was the closest thing to a pillow and the wall was uncomfortable. She didn't care if did make Leo feel uncomfortable, like it or not, Leo was comfy. Aeris shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

Leo, meanwhile, was staring at Aeris, unmoving. He was both wary of waking her and entirely happy with her being there. Aeris was right, the extra body under the blanket made Leo feel a lot warmer, though he wasn't sure he really owed much warmth to the blanket.

Leo didn't move an inch until he heard Aeris snoring lightly. Once he heard that he adjusted himself so he was more comfortable and tried to sleep himself, resting his head against the corner so as to not disturb Aeris.

Unfortunately for him, the wall proved as unappealing to him as it had to Aeris. He tried for some time to sleep before he was eventually fed up with it. He looked at Aeris again and decided he was too sleepy to care if she killed him later. Later was later and sleep was now. So Leo gingerly rested his head against Aeris's.

What a difference. Her hair was soft and smelled like… well mud first of all, but under that the smell was rather pleasant. The back of Leo's head was still against the wall, but this was much better. "_Mmm soft, soft like my butt."_

This time Leo began to drift much faster. His mind blank, he could feel Aeris breathing next to him, eventually the steady rhythm put Leo to sleep.

* * *

><p>Leo woke up first and noticed that Aeris was still there, only now her position was much less graceful. Rather than gently resting her head against him, she'd turned so that her chest and stomach were pressed against his side and her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and under his chin.<p>

The position was rather… stimulating, and Leo found himself enjoying it immensely. He found that he liked it quite a lot when Aeris held him this way.

This pleasant train of thought would have gone interrupted only by Aeris muttering in her sleep again, had it not been for one thing. Aeris started strangling Leo in her sleep.

Her arms had circled from his shoulders to his neck and she'd started to squeeze. Leo tried to take a breath and could barely get in any air at all. He started swing his arms around uselessly, then tried pulling at Aeris's arms to relieve some pressure, and got nothing.

His lungs were starting to burn now. Desperate for air Leo started tapping at Aeris, frantically trying to wake her.

"Damn it Leo." She mumbled, "Stop it already. I'm trying to sleep."

"Aeris", he choked, almost inaudibly, "can't… breathe."

"Leo, I said shut up." Aeris was still mostly asleep.

Struggling desperately low Leo managed to shake Aeris the tinniest bit and with the last of his air forced out, "Aeris… Air…"

Aeris opened her eyes ever so slightly and noticed Leo was looking at her with a peculiar expression. She also noticed that her arms were gripping his throat tightly and that he was flailing weakly.

"Oh shit! Sorry Leo." Releasing his throat Leo sucked in a huge lungful of air and started hacking violently. "Fuck, how long was I doing that?"

Leo held up a finger, motioning for her to wait a moment while he hacked.

When he'd finally caught his breath he wheezed out in fragments, "Oh, only a little while… I mean… I started to black out a little…. but whatever."

Aeris rolled her eyes but still felt bad about the whole "cuddle of death" episode. "Well, sorry about that anyway. I don't know what that was all about."

"Not a problem. Just be careful when you hug someone, you might kill them."

Aeris looked awkward for a second, thinking about what position she must have been in to give him the so called "death hug". "He he, yeeeah."

"So anyway, what where you dreaming of?" Leo ventured. "Either you were enjoying some serious snuggling or you were in mortal combat." Leo chuckled at his own little joke, "Hehe, "Mortal Combat", will my comedic genius never cease?"

Aeris avoided the question, trying not to think of snuggling. "Doesn't really matter, I guess. Look, can we just move on already. I don't want to think about this too hard."

Leo smirked, "Whatever you say. Sooo, what do we do now?"

Aeris looked around, trying to think of something, anything, to do. There wasn't much. There cell had nothing in it but four vents, a drain in the middle of the room, and the door, which had a several slots through it, and a hatch wheel. Nothing came to mind.

"Honestly, I have no clue."

"Well that is just disappointing Aeris, I can't come up with everything you know."

"Yeah, well I can't think of anything, so if you want entertainment do it yourself."

"Ooh ooh, I know. Do you have your iphone still, or did you throw that in the river along with the iPod?"

The question seemed random to Aeris. "Yeah…. I do. So?"

"Then we shall play the game of gods, titans, and mystical warriors. We shall play-", Leo paused, for dramatic effect, "-Fruit Ninja!"

"Well I'd hardly call Fruit Ninja the game of titans, but whatever. It's not like there's anything else to do."

So Leo and Aeris occupied themselves for the next half hour playing fruit ninja, classic version. At first they tried playing at the same time, each working a single finger to work two "swords" at once, but the screen proved to be too small and the technique was ineffective. Leo pointed it out first.

"Come on Aeris, this isn't working, we haven't even gotten past one fifty yet."

Aeris agreed wholeheartedly, "Yeah, let's just switch off."

Leo nodded vigorously with a toothy grin, "Now we shall see which of us is the superior ninja. For the record, I think it's fair to assume we all think that it's me."

Despite herself, Aeris found herself caught up in the wake of Leo's taunting and grinned back at him, "Oh we will, will we? I'm about to wipe the floor with your sorry ass. Gimme that iphone."

So Leo and Aeris passed the game back and forth, playing at a game of one-upmanship, each scoring progressively higher as they got more and more into it. They talked to each other the whole way through, not about anything important, just the random things you talk about when you're not doing much of anything.

"… and so I told him to go die in a fiery explosion. Just then my tactical nuke hit."

Aeris guffawed, "That's hilarious. What'd he do then?"

"Well, he filled my house with face-huggers."

Aeris looked up from her game in surprise, "So that's what you meant about the pest problem, I always thought you'd been evicted or something."

"Well actually I was evicted. They said I'd broken the no pet's policy when I hadn't gotten rid of them by the end of the month."

It wasn't that bad really, and they found themselves having a pretty good time, considering.

That was until the ship shook violently and the thrum of the engines stopped abruptly.

Leo broke off in the middle of some random comment on pirate films. They'd gotten used to the sound of the engines by now and in its absence the silence was oppressive, only the sounds of the game remained.

Leo looked at Aeris anxiously. He spoke slowly. "Aeris… why'd the engines stop?"

Aeris looked back at him, her expression troubled. "I don't know Leo. I guess we must have landed some-."

Aeris was cut short by a series of high pitched beeps that resonated through the cell. Suddenly the light on her cuffs turned from green to red and the manacles slammed together where the lights were. A moment later Leo's did the same.

Unfortunately for him, his hands had been behind his back at the time. He struggled to separate them but, try as he might, the cuffs wouldn't budge.

He gave up in frustration, "Dammit, they're stuck."

Aeris shook her head. "Well did you think they'd design cuffs so that you escape from them? Kind of defeats the purpose."

Leo decided to try a trick he thought he'd seen in a movie once. Lying down on the ground Leo rolled back onto his shoulders and lifted his legs and bottom into the air. From here he tried to get his legs under the arch formed by his arms so that they would wind up in front of him. For a normal person getting their arms past their rear end would have been difficult, but for Leo, with his flexible spine and foolhardy determination, the task was made almost easy.

Observing the spectacle, Aeris tried to fold her arms out of habit, but the cuffs got in the way. She placed her hands in her lap instead and settled for giving Leo a weary look. "Leo, you look ridiculous. "

As Aeris watched Leo folding himself on the ground she asked, confused, "what are you doing, anyway?'

Leo glowered from his awkward pose, "If you aren't going to say anything helpful, I'd appreciate some silence. I'm concentrating and this is a very complex process. I'm sure it's beyond your understanding."

Aeris rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Leo had just gotten one leg through and exclaimed triumphantly, "Ha, see, only one left."

At that moment another series of beeps resonated through the cell and both Aeris and Leo's ankle cuffs slammed together, locking Leo into a tangled knot of furry limbs.

Leo looked up at his legs in irritation, "Dammit! How am I supposed to get out of _this_?"

Aeris gave Leo another look, "Like I said before, you aren't."

"That's not helping."

"It wasn't meant to."

After struggling to get up on his own, Leo rolled onto his side to look at Aeris, a little embarrassed. "Ah, Aeris… I can't get up. Could you… maybe come help me."

Aeris was running out of looks to give Leo at this point. She shrugged mentally, "Alright fine."

So Aeris shuffled over to Leo, put the phone in her pocket, and set about trying to help him up. This proved difficult as Leo was almost incapable of any independent movement with his arms and legs tangled with each other. Aeris's cuffs didn't help either.

After considerable effort, Aeris had only succeeded in getting Leo onto his knees, his arms still locked between them. He had his face on the ground and his rump stuck up behind him pointing at the door, awkwardly.

Suddenly, the hatch wheel to the door spun rapidly and the door swung open, revealing four men in grey jumpsuits. They strode into the room purposefully and wheeled in what looked strikingly similar a pair of hospital gurneys.

Three of the men had heavy looking clubs with electrodes on the end clipped to their belts. Two of those three had pistols. Only one didn't have any weapons.

Assuming that they'd come too finally address his previous commands, Leo began holding an imaginary conversation with them. "_Come to make amends, eh? Well it's too late for that."_

He blared from his stance, "Face my buttocks!"

Aeris interjected frantically, remembering the time a massive amount of blood had exploded from Leo's ass, spraying all over the brick wall that had been behind him. "Oh god no! Not again with the blood!"

One of the guards, suspecting that Leo had a weapon, shouted out in a panic, "Get down, he's got something!"

The jumpsuits hit the floor like bricks, their arms over their heads as they waited for something devastating to fly out of Leo's upturned buttocks… nothing happened.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Now this chapter, this chapter here had lots of goods stuff. It's got random things, comedy, some cuteness, death cuddles, theatrics, ninjas of fruit, goodness me. One could say that it is chalked full of things.**

**I certainly hope you enjoyed it. So now we know that there are humans here on the ship. Well, I tire of myself, perhaps I'll find less of me... In the Next Chapter!  
><strong>


	7. Chapter Seven: Business

**Chapter Seven: Business  
><strong>

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><p>The only sound in the hallway was that of heavy boots striking against the metal floor, the squeak of wheels being pushed along, and that of an extremely angry Aeris berating a very unlucky Leo.<p>

Aeris was lying on top of one of the beds that the men had wheeled into the cell, being pushed along by one of them. Her head was turned towards Leo, who was on her right, "…and you're just lucky they didn't beat you senseless. What good would have come from…" she shuddered, thinking of the blood,"…that, anyway? You didn't even do it, if you weren't going to do anything why say anything?"

From his own bed, Leo gave Aeris a self-satisfied look, "What, you didn't think I did that on purpose that one time, did you? I just thought that it would be a good idea to instill some fear in their frail hearts."

"Their frail hearts? Leo that ridiculous, you're just lucky that that guy-," she gestured with her head toward the jumpsuit in front of her, "-kept the other three off you."

Now that she was finished chastising Leo, she had a moment to reflect on what had happened a few moments before.

* * *

><p>After realizing that Leo posed no actual threat, the men had become more than a little angry at the absurd looking creature. Three of them had converged around him. Two of them unhooked their clubs and hefted them menacingly.<p>

But before they could do anything the fourth man spoke up.

The authority in his voice was very clear, and in English he barked, "Hold it you three. I don't care if it did make a fool out of you, we don't damage merchandise, especially just before we take them inside. Now untangle him and get them ready, we're on a time limit."

Grudgingly, the other three men did as they were told, two holding Leo's arms while the third one disconnected his leg cuffs using some kind of remote. When they'd disentangling Leo they reconnected his legs, normally this time, and lifted him onto one the gurneys and lashed him tightly down with the metal straps that hung from either side. Then they lifted Aeris and did the same. Finally, they'd wheeled them out of the cell one at time and positioned the gurneys parallel to each other in the hallway.

Looking around the hallway, Aeris noted that it was surprisingly spacious. It was all the same blocky grey metal that the cell had been, pipes running all along the walls and ceiling, the floor a smooth uninterrupted piece of grey, and doors lining the wall every twenty feet or so.

That was when Aeris had started berating Leo.

The thoughts that filled her mind now, though, revolved around the fact that the man in front of her who'd kept Leo from being electrocuted and beaten had spoken in now, Aeris was still trying to figure out what time they were in. Clearly these men were human, which meant that millions of years hadn't the fact that the version of English that Leo and Aeris were familiar with still existed as a language meant that they couldn't be more than a few hundred years ahead.

The on whom Aeris was concentrating was walking briskly, his hands folded behind him as he set the pace for the other three.

She called out to him, "Hey you, up front, you speak English?"

He didn't break his stride. "Yes, all four of us do. We were sent to get you for exactly that reason. Were the only ones who speak English in the prison sector, so we were chosen to take you down to the loading doors and explain your… situation, on the way."

Aeris didn't like the way he'd said that, like they were in for something unpleasant. "Why would that be necessary, who are you people, and what do you mean by our "situation"?"

His voice was low and empty of malice, he answered the question in a businesslike manner as if he'd repeated this process many times over and was accustomed to such questions. "My name is Clay. You're about to sold, or you will be later, if not now."

Aeris's eyes widened. "Sold? That's not possible, and as what?"

"It's possible, believe me. You'll probably be sold as slaves… or pets. Maybe something else, it all depends on your owners. After we sell you, you could be anything to them, including their next meal."

Leo, who had remained silent up until now, interrupted Clay here, "Wait a minute. You can't sell us, that's illegal, isn't it?"

The man pushing Leo's gurney answered the question, "Actually we can, and it isn't. You two are time travelers, right?'

Aeris responded this time, "Yeah, but what difference does that make?'

Clay adjusted his hands to in front of him now, "Well, what Maliek is saying is that you two are both unusual cases. Because you aren't from here, you probably don't know that what we're doing is normal in _our_ world. I could tell you more, but you won't need to know it."

Leo wasn't satisfied with this answer, "I still don't understand, where are you taking us and what time are we in?"

Clay's voice held a small note of pityas he led them into a right turn before finally stopping. "It doesn't matter, you'll pick things up as you go, if you live that long. But we're here now."

They'd stopped in front of a large hexagonal door. Clay inputted a code into a pad on the right of the door and it split in the middle, inviting a very bright white light into the hallway.

A silhouette was formed in light as the doorway opened wider. When there was enough space, a figure stepped through the threshold and greeted clay with a gesture. Then he spoke.

His voice was fluid and rang through the halls in a low tenor, he sounded educated, but the voice was laden with ice, as though the people he was addressing were little more than mindless heaps of waste.

"Hello… Mister Clay. Your Captain informs me that you have some new… specimens." His voice wrapped around the word specimens in the same way a snake coils around a mouse.

Clay's voice turned sour when he answered, it was clear that he both knew and disliked this man. "Yes Doctor that should be obvious. They're right here in front of you."

Now that their eyes had adjusted to the light, Leo and Aeris could see the Doctor more clearly. He looked like he was more or less in his early thirties. His hair was brown and wavy, of medium length, and was combed back to nape of his neck. His features were angular, as was his nose, which formed a rounded sort of triangle. His eyes were an intense electric blue, but his eyelids drooped slightly, suggesting an immediate boredom with what he was dealing with.

He looked mildly annoyed at the jibe. "Yes, well, bring them in. I have more pressing matters to deal with shortly after our business is concluded and I'm sure this will be swift."

Clay didn't bother to disguise his displeasure at the situation either, "I certainly hope so."

Leo and Aeris said nothing during the whole exchange. If this was the person they were being sold to, the future was looking dire.

They were wheeled in and the doors shut behind them, leaving the hallway silent and empty.

* * *

><p>After stepping through the door into the light, Clay followed the doctor, who led them down a long narrow hallway. It was a sharp contrast when compared to the ship, the walls were all smooth and entirely white, which made the already bright light even brighter. At the end they walked into a little room. Unlike the hall, it was poorly lit and the walls were unpainted. This was not where they stopped, however. Directly across from the door they'd gone through was an already open door leading into a hallway that looked much like the one they'd just gone through.<p>

Maliek and the others had been about to follow Clay and the Doctor through that door when Clay turned in the doorway, addressing Maliek directly. "Wait here, I'll be back soon."

Maliek grunted in affirmation.

After shutting the door behind him, Clay followed the doctor down the hall. There was one major difference between this hall and the last. Uniformed guards lined the walls from one end of the hall to the next, each holding a rifle**. **Once they'd reached the end of the hall the Doctor turned to address Clay, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you for your weapons now, Mr. Clay."

Clay had great misgivings on relinquishing his weapons for any reason, especially in a place like this, surrounded by potentially hostile guards and a man for whom he held a great deal of resentment and hate. But the situation demanded it and, grudgingly, he allowed himself to have his weapons removed.

When they reached the end of the hall the Doctor opened a door into what could only be described as a study.

The room itself was roughly circular and the decor was rather rustic, given the nature of when they were. It was as though the good doctor had chosen to decorate his personal space in the manner of a medieval castle chamber, with tapestries, mountainous bookshelves, and a roaring fire. There were several high backed chairs spread throughout the red carpeted floor, arranged around an enormous wooden desk, behind which the Doctor had already seated himself. He sat in a high backed wooden chair with red velvet cushioning. The desk had a panel on it, the panel had a vast array of buttons scattered across its surface.

Having seated himself, the Doctor invited Clay to take a seat, but Clay quickly rejected this offer. He preferred to negate anything that might give him cause to spend any more time here than absolutely necessary.

They hadn't spoken a word as they'd walked through either of the halls, and it was the Doctor who broke the silence first. "I have decided that I want them."

Clay stood with his arms folded next to the chair he'd been offered. "Have you?"

"Yes, I have. They are both perfect examples of the anthropomorphic genus that were wiped out through the course of the Rise. To find that they still exist, and in such perfect condition, is a staggering revelation." The doctor clasped his fingers together. "But I believe we are both aware that they're existence in not possible."

Clay shifted, displaying disinterest. "And why is that?"

The doctor leaned back in his chair, placed his thumbs against his chin, and exhaled through his nose. "Their kind, all of them, were eradicated, we both know that and do not think to deceive me on this. So, what interests me is this-", he leaned forward, "-how and where did you find them?"

By this time, Clay had lost patience, it was time to settle things, "Listen, _Doctor_ Rekaterin, I'm not really interested in this conversation. I would appreciate it if you would just name your price or I'll be on my way."

Rekaterin did not take kindly to being slighted. He was accustomed to being treated with a heavy deference and Clay was just bordering on disrespect. His voice went a few degrees chillier, "Your interest in the matter is of no concern to me. I know that there is only one way for them to be here and so do you. They're time travelers aren't they?"

Clay was getting tired of this, and he was getting nowhere, "What does it matter, the only thing that should matter to you is how much you're willing to pay for them."

Rekaterin leaned back again, "Oh I think it matters a great deal. The Paloridian are very clear about their position on time travel and on what is to be done with time travelers, and as I'm sure you are aware, it is not positive. If you have these two, I imagine that you also have the means of their arrival. Slave trade may be legal, but transporting and selling a time machine is not."

Clay shrugged his indifference, "The Paloridian aren't everywhere, but what we do with the time machine is of no concern to you either. You said you wanted them-," He gestured back towards the door, "-so name your price."

Rekaterin smirked. "I see. In that case, how does free sound?"

Clay scoffed, "Sure, would you like them gift wrapped too?" He turned serious again, "Really, I would like it if you would take this a little more seriously."

This time it was Rekaterin who chuckled, "Oh but I am serious Mr. Clay. You see, those two may be more valuable to me than anything I've ever encountered. But if I buy them from you, then there will be an exchange of information. You'll have to give me papers indicating where you acquired them, papers expressing their unique and sensitive nature. And if you were to be caught selling that time machine and they were to trace your ships manifest back to me, then I would lose my station and gain an unfortunate position in the Paloridian justice system. So I intend to take these two off your hands, free of charge, and effectively avoid all that."

Clay widened his stance angrily; instinctively reaching for a pistol he knew wasn't there. "I know what you are Rekaterin and I know what you do with your "specimens". I came here as a formality, there is no way I was ever going to sell them to the likes of you, slaves or not. I'll be damned if I stand by and let you take them."

Rekaterin chuckled again, drawing a pistol from inside the desk, "You know, you really shouldn't conduct your business inside a place that you know is filled with people _and _machines that are all too willing to kill you." He pressed a button on his desk panel and guards filled the room, filing in from hidden doors all around, every rifle trained on Clay.

Clay was fuming inwardly, but he hadn't survived as long as he had in his chosen profession by making rash decisions. Admitting that he was trapped was something he had to come to terms with now. With every ounce of self control he could muster he almost whispered, "If I give them to you, will you allow me and my men to leave?"

Rekaterin smirked. "That was the general concept behind this. I would recommend that you do so quickly, I have more important things to do than deal with simple minded slave traders and pirates."

Clay ignored Rekaterin's insult, with difficulty. "Then they're yours. I'll take my men and leave, now."

Rekaterin stood and began walking out of the room through one of the hidden doors. He waved behind him as he said, "You do that Mr. Clay, and I sincerely hope you have a pleasant walk back to your ship. I'm sure even you can find your way back on your own."

* * *

><p>While Clay was bargaining the lives of Leo and Aeris for those of his men and himself, Maliek had been explaining some things to Leo and Aeris in the small room they'd been left in.<p>

The conversation had started when Aeris had started asking him questions. Since he was the only one who'd spoken so far and seemed to hold a measure of authority, if less than Clay's, Aeris had felt like he was the one to ask.

Looking up awkwardly from her position on the bed she asked him, "Its Maliek, right?"

The question seemed to catch him off guard, as if he hadn't expected any questions to be directed at him after Clay Left. Despite his surprise he moved next to Aeris so he could look at her better when he answered, "Yes, it is. Why?"

Now that Maliek had moved, Aeris got a much better look at him. He looked to be of slightly below average height but she didn't think it was a problem for him, from what she could see Maliek was all corded muscle. His dark hair was long and peppered with grey, but he didn't look like he was much older than thirty five. He was hairy too, the sleeves of his jumpsuit were rolled up and Aeris could see that the entire lengths of his forearms were covered in thick hairs. His face too, sported an impressive set of mutton chops.

_"Mutton chops? Who the hell has mutton chops? What is this guy a pirate … oh yeah." _

His eyes were beady and glinted with a kind of steady intelligence. Overall, he looked like the beefier, younger cousin of Mr. Gibbs from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean". His voice even sounded similar, though he lacked the distinct accent of his more piratey self. Strangely, the sense of familiarity that Aeris drew from this, made her more comfortable with him. She asked him directly, "Alright Maliek, would you please tell me where we are?"

Maliek chewed on the question, pondered whether or not it was alright to say. Eventually he decided it was, "We're in a space station, a big one too. It belongs to that doctor fellow that you saw coming in."

"But if there's just the doctor, then why are we here? I thought you said that you were going to sell us?"

Maliek shook his head, "It's not just the doctor. There's lots of people in here, but they all work for him. And the reason were her is that the good Doctor always wants to see if we have anything special before we go to the regular markets. Some kind of arrangement he has with the captain. Clay doesn't like it though, Clay hates him."

It was Leo who asked a question now. "Well that doesn't seem sound very smart, sending the person who hates the guy to go and sell us to him."

Maliek shrugged, "Clay and the Captain don't always see eye to eye. Sometimes the captain likes reminding Clay that he's just the first mate, so he always sends him. "

Aeris shook off her surprise, she hadn't guessed that Clay was the first mate, "Who is this guy, this Doctor that Clay doesn't like?"

Maliek's face fell. "His name is Rekaterin, "Doctor" Rekaterin", though he's no doctor I'd ever want."

Maliek was making Aeris even more nervous than she had been already.

Maliek's face settled into a dark mask. "The man is crazy. He's likes to buy what we have because we deal in rare species. That's what we were doing on that little dirt ball where we found you, hunting.

He started pacing all over the room. His voice developed an eerie tone. It was like he'd disconnect from himself. "He likes rare species so that he can do two things, replicate them and then take things from them. He'd examine you, your habits, everything about you, and when he thinks he's found everything he wants he'll cut you apart."

He started gesturing with his hands. "Not all at once though. No. He'll take you piece by piece, to see how you change without each part. He could find what he wants without that, but he likes it. He wants genetic traits mostly, but he'll study the body parts too, to see what they're for and-"

Maliek stopped, looking back at Leo and Aeris. He saw that he was scaring them, and pretty badly too. Quickly, he tried to put a reassuring face on, "I wouldn't worry too much, though. I know Clay seemed a bit scary back there, but I don't think he'll sell you to that one, he wouldn't wish that on anybody."

Leo swallowed, trying to moisten a very dry throat. "So… where are we going to go instead? They can't all be like… him"

Maliek waved his hands in front of him. "Oh no no no, not like him. Trust me; slave life usually isn't so bad. I guess the closest reference you two would understand would be the Romans. It's more like that, indentured servitude really. And you two are pretty rare you know, being cat people and all, so you'll probably be treated better than most. Pampered even."

Aeris was almost terrified at this point, but she still needed to ask her most important question. "Maliek, before anything else happens we need to know, when are we?"

Maliek put his hands down. "Well that's an easy one, you're in the year twenty one ninety."

Leo looked at Aeris happily, "That's less than two hundred years, right? So we aren't that far off."

Aeris still wasn't happy, "That isn't necessarily a good thing Leo. We still don't know anything about where we are except that there are insane doctors and slave traders."

Maliek interrupted her, indignantly, "Hey, hey, were poachers normally, not slavers. You two were an accident, but after the captain caught you he thought we could make a lot of money off of you. Not everyone is happy about it you know, me and Clay included."

At that moment Clay burst into the room and turned towards Maliek, "Come on. We're leaving", and moved hurriedly towards the door.

Aeris and Leo both breathed a sigh of relief at the news.

Maliek smiled. "Good."

He turned towards the other two jumpsuits, "Come on you two, let's load 'em up."

Clay didn't stop, "We aren't taking them, Maliek. They stay here."

Maliek shook his head in disbelief. "What? You're not telling me you actually sold them to him, are you?"

Clay did stop this time. "No Maliek, I traded them. I'll explain on the ship, but we have to hurry."He moved back towards the door.

This news almost threw Aeris into frenzy. "No wait! We aren't some sick bastard's crazy science experiments."

Leo was equally panicked, "We don't want to die."

Maliek gestured back towards Leo and Aeris, "They're right Clay we can't leave them, they aren't like the animals, these two are people. It would be like leaving children, they'll be helpless."

One of the other jumpsuits stepped in now, "What did you trade them for?"

Clay had already gotten to the door by now. He turned and carefully broke apart each sentence, as if directing them at each individual person, "I traded them for our lives. We either leave now or Rekaterin kills all of us. This wasn't a negotiation, we leave now or we die, and there is nothing we can do for them. That is the deal."

Clay made his way out the door. After a moment he was followed by the other two men, the one who'd spoken up earlier looked back sadly as he walked through the door and waved his final goodbye. Maliek was the last one out. He hesitated in the doorway, looking at Leo and Aeris. They looked back, terrified, they're eyes pleading. He looked at the floor. As he closed the door he left them his final words, "I'm sorry."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, how do we like our new characters, eh? I hope you did like them because I have no idea what I'm going to do with them just yet )ha, yeah right).**

**But now we have what would appear to be a proper antagonist. The possibilities just got interesting.**

**I enjoyed this chapter. The interactions are what make it, I believe. But perhaps you disagree, and feel you should write a review, and rightly so.**

**But before I go into a tirade, I beleive we are all wondering what will happen next. Let us go forth then TO THE NEW CHAPTER!  
><strong>


	8. Chapter Eight:An orientation to remember

**Chapter Eight: An orientation to remember**

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><p>Leo struggled against his restraints furiously, writhing and shaking for all he was worth. His voice shuddering with the bed, "D-Dammit, t-this isn't w-working!" He slammed his head against the bed in defeat. "Aeris, what do we do?"<p>

Aeris was lying in her bed, eyes shut, hands on her stomach, ears folded back against her head. She would have looked asleep except for her tail, which wouldn't stop curling and shifting. She turned her head towards Leo but her eyes stayed shut. "Not now."

Leo left Aeris to herself and began straining against his bonds again, but quickly gave up. He was close enough to reach Aeris's gurney and he pulled her closer, "Aeris come on, what we do?"

Her eyes snapped open, her expression was passive but her eyes were charged the color of pale ice. She hissed loudly, "Not now Leo. I'm trying to think."

Her head snapped to the side as the hatch wheel into the space station turned and the door opened. A small contingent of guards filed in. Wordlessly, they pushed Leo and Aeris out into the same hall the Doctor had led Clay through.

In the hall Leo and Aeris took in all the same things as Clay, most notably the guards. They wore what looked like a bizarre combination of body armor and hazmat suits. The uniforms were plated on the torso, arms, and legs.

The suits were olive green, except for the plates, which were a burnished dark brown. Each uniform had an outer coat which went down to calf level, covering most of the body.

Each face was covered by a gasmask connecting to tanks strapped to their backs via a single narrow tube attached to the front of the mask. The masks themselves each had very small round visor lenses and were angular and blocky in their construction.

Each guard also wore a simple round helmet that fit over the gas masks. Both masks and helmets were black. The overall effect of all this caused them to look something like enormous human cockroaches.

Worries momentarily forgotten, Aeris looked around and was reminded of dozens of nameless characters from various games, TV shows, and fan fictions. _"_I guess the style hasn't changed that much in two hundred years."

Leo, who had also noted the resemblance, commented further. "Egad, we've been abducted by space insects!", adding his own dramatic flair to the statement, all thought of escape having fled his mind when he'd began his amateur theatrics.

Their relief was short lived however. Once they were in Rekaterin's office and the guards left they were faced with an empty office occupied only by their own thoughts, thoughts which did not err on the side of optimism.

Before either Leo or Aeris could express anything further, one of the doors hidden throughout the room opened, revealing a blood spattered Rekaterin striding into the room wiping his hands on his coat muttering to himself, "… note to self, no more hybrids, far too unwieldy and… messy."

He stopped only when he'd opened another hidden door into a closest and seemed to notice Leo and Aeris for the first time through the mirror. Turning around sharply, his back bent aggressively, he reached into his lab coat pocket, but stopped when it dawned on him who he was looking at.

Relaxing completely, he stood erect, and an evil grin stretched across face forcing his lips to peel back from his teeth. The look he gave them was predatory and depraved, like a starved animal hungry for its next meal. But the look lasted only a moment. Rekaterin corrected himself sharply and returned to his normal look of removed disinterest. The improvement was marginal.

He addressed the two cats, but spoke to them through the mirror as he resumed his search of the closet, "Please, forgive my momentary rudeness. I was not aware that I had guests, but as you can see-", he gestured to his blood spattered clothing,"-I've been somewhat preoccupied."

Rekaterin shouted in momentary triumph as he found what he was looking for and withdrew a fresh lab coat from the closet, "But as I'm sure you've also noticed, that situation has been remedied. I am now at your full disposal. This is rather one of my favorite parts of testing, I love watching how the new subjects react to the new environment, so stimulating, so fresh, and untainted by the cynicism and disbelief that so often stems from a simulated environment." He paused, realizing that he might be confusing his captive audience, "Please, allow me to explain. My name is Doctor Rekaterin, you are this facilities newest test subjects, and this is, shall we say, your orientation."

Leo spoke up first, "Orientation?"

Rekaterin nodded immediately, "Yes, your orientation. In this particular case, this is the one and only time where you will be fully able to ask questions with any serious chance of gaining an answer, so I would encourage you to ask any and all questions you may have now. I will be sure to indulge you however possible." He chuckled inwardly, amused by the entire act. What a fun little game this always was.

"Why is this our only chance to ask questions?" It was Aeris who asked this time. Her tone was direct and unafraid, but her insides were churning horribly.

Having put on his new coat, Rekaterin had been checking himself in the mirror, but turned to scratch his chin in mild surprise. No other subject had asked such a thing. On its own this was not that surprising; most subjects were not intelligent, but still. He adjusted himself. "A most pertinent question, I applaud you. None of the other subjects have possessed the wherewithal to inquire as to the reason." He returned to his grooming. "Your reward is a direct answer."

Rekaterin walked to his desk and seated himself behind it. He steepled his fingers in front of his face and began to answer Aeris's question, "You will not have any further opportunity because after this you will be seeing me for only one reason."

Leo gulped. "Dissection?"

Rekaterin nodded approvingly. "Dissection."

Aeris asked her next question, apprehensively, "How long before… that?"

Rekaterin shrugged indifferently. "In all honesty, I couldn't tell you. The length of time before dissection varies widely. I have a feeling it may be some considerable measure of time for the both of you though. You're both intelligent and incredibly rare. You may not even be capable of grasping just how rare you are. You're irreplaceable. As such, a great deal of study is required before anything even potentially harmful to your health is undertaken."

Leo looked at Rekaterin excitedly. "That means we live longer, right?"

"Yes, perhaps considerably longer."

Aeris was confused by something Rekaterin had said, he'd called them rare. He'd made a special point of just how rare. Why? Sure, there hadn't been a ton of people like Leo and Aeris back home, but they weren't "irreplaceable".

Her curiosity spurned her further. Her voice sounded a little angry now and the slightest bit sarcastic, "And why are we so rare, exactly?"

Rekaterin grinned again. He had very much been looking forward to this particular part. What expressions would he see plastered to their pitiful little faces when they discovered they were the last of their kind? He couldn't wait to see.

He separated his fingers and folded his hands on his lap, leaning forward in anticipation. "Well let me see, how shall I put this?" He turned his head slightly and raised his right hand to his chin theatrically. He looked back at Leo and Aeris, paused, and smiled, "Your race is entirely extinct."

Aeris and Leo both blinked, questioningly. What was he talking about?

Rekaterin smirked. He could see the questions bubbling inside their heads. He stood and walked behind his chair, facing away from them again.

"Perhaps some elaboration is in order, since you are both clearly confused. What you may fail to grasp is that while you two may be alive, you are only alive because you are time travelers."

Aeris interrupted, "How do you know that? Did Clay tell you?"

"It wouldn't have been a great mental leap for anyone, never mind an individual provided with inside knowledge. Clay did not tell me anything. But we digress, the point is this. Your entire species, and every anthropomorphic race that ever existed, was wiped out in a massive political insurrection we here refer to as "The Rise". He turned and placed his hands on the back of his chair. "Consequently, you are the last and only ones of your kind."

"_Perfect!"_ Their jaws went slack, eyes wide. Horrified, their expressions were everything Rekaterin had hoped they would be. And now for the finishing touch.

He looked at the pair sidelong, half smiling. "Because of this a cloning program will become a necessity. Your species must survive, even if you do not. Of course, before any of that, we'll instigate a breeding program." He chuckled briefly at the thought. "We have to see how to reproduce you naturally and of course an understanding of the cycle of pregnancy and delivery is equally vital. I have no doubt you will both enjoy the program immensely when the time comes."

Aeris and Leo looked at each other, holding an entire conversation without exchanging a word. It ended with Leo looking away hurriedly so that he wouldn't have to listen to Aeris yelling at him. The exchange lasted only a moment and Aeris turned on Rekaterin vehemently**, **"What the hell is any of this for? Why do you care if we're the last of our kind?"

Rekaterin seemed uninterested by the question and began to watch himself pick at his fingernails. "I am afraid that my motives are beyond your understanding. Let's just call it a hobby and leave it that, shall we." He looked back at them, his eyes focused intensely on them in very disturbing way. "Besides, I would suggest you ask questions with less lengthy answers. We haven't time for a history lesson and you're remaining time is swiftly expiring."

Aeris was undeterred by Rekaterin and didn't care for his suggestions. She asked him, angrily, "And where are you going that's so important, I thought we were your "irreplaceable test subjects" right?"

Rekaterin was getting tired of the game now. He didn't like how this one was behaving. He would have to remember to make special adjustments for her. His expression went from disturbing to near crazed, but his voice remained level and emotionless. "Do not presume that you are so important as to command my undivided attention. You may be irreplaceable, but so are dozens of other test subjects. Now, I am afraid that it's almost time for you fitting, so ask your final questions. "

Leo had been formulating a question for some time and chose to ask it now, "I have a question. What happens to us after you leave?"

Rekaterin's demeanor returned to a more positive air, "Ah, once again a most pertinent question and one that I feel should be answered through actions rather than words." He made his way back to the closet, this time knowing exactly were what he was looking for rested inside. From it he withdrew two large boxes, each one about a foot in width and diameter.

As he walked back to Leo and Aeris he asked them, "Do you know what's in these boxes?" He smiled. "Of course you don't. How could you?" He set them on the desk. "With that in mind I'll show you what is in them." He opened one of the boxes. "They are the means by which I will be maintaining a complete grip on you from now until the moment that I choose to end you both." He reached inside and withdrew from one of the boxes what looked exactly like a collar.

Looking at what Rekaterin held, Aeris and Leo both knew what he meant. He'd said he would control them with these, so they had to do something, something unpleasant.

Rekaterin saw the recognition. "Yes, I see that you understand what I'm holding here." He set down the collar onto the desk. "I always love doing this particular part personally. But don't worry it won't hurt even a little." He reached behind the desk and drew two syringes. "You really won't feel very much of anything. By the time you wake up, you won't even know where you are. Now-", he looked at Leo, "-let's begin with you, shall we."

In one swift motion Rekaterin plunged the syringe into Leo's abdomen. Leo didn't even have time to react. He just fell limp, practically lifeless.

Aeris looked at them both, Rekaterin standing over Leo, his eyes gleaming with malicious pleasure. Then he looked at her as she felt the eyes run across her like she was a blood soaked piece of meat. Rekaterin licked him lips and smiled. He tossed the first syringe across the room carelessly and stood at her side. He bent over so that his eyes were almost directly over hers. Then he spoke, "Now it's your turn.", and rammed the syringe in the same place as he had Leo's.

Aeris heard Rekaterin say one last thing as she felt herself being sucked into the dark.

"Your lives end here. There is no escaping it."

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><p><strong>AN: So then, it would appear that our dear dear main characters are unequivocally trapped in the clutches of this evil man. I endeavored to my greatest degree to effectively convey a sense of sinister evel throughout this chapter (you know, apart from the cockroach abduction bit. What? A least a little levity is required. Comic relief you know.)**

**As Always I hope you enjoyed this chapter. But we must go on, difficult though it may be, we must struggle ever onward to... The Next Chapter!  
><strong>


	9. Chapter Nine: A Nightmare

**Chapter Nine:** **Waking**

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><p>Aeris shot up in her bed, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. "<em>Jeezus Christ that was one hell of a dream!" <em>

She couldn't believe how real it had all felt. Every moment was as vivid and real as if it had happened only moments ago. She looked around her room, just to make sure that is was all real. It was. Getting out of bed, Aeris took it all in with a great sense of relief. The dream had been so disturbing. She shuddered to think what would have happened next. But none of that mattered, it was all a dream. She was fine, Leo was fine, there was no Doctor Rekaterin, and there was no insane genocide leading to the extinction of her race. Now that she was awake, she realized that she was hungry. Aeris looked at the clock and saw that it was one in the afternoon. "_Man, did I sleep in late."_ It was no wonder she was hungry.

So Aeris changed out of her sweat drenched PJ's and got into a pair of purple jeans and a pink T-shirt. Then she went to the kitchen to make some lunch. She was in the hallway going past Leo's room when she heard the sound of Leo falling out of bed again. She ignored it and kept walking. When she was just out of the hallway she heard Leo's door open.

Leo looked around until he saw Aeris moving cheerfully down the hall. He called out to her, "Morning Aeris."

She responded in stride, "Morning Leo."

"What'cha up to?"

"I'm hungry, so I'm going to make lunch"

He rushed up to her from the hall. "Wait, I want to do it. I feel like cooking."

The concept had appeal. Aeris remembered the last time Leo had cooked and the idea of being served rather than working herself only added to the appeal. "Alright Leo, you do that."

Leo bounded into the kitchen happily. "Glee, I get to make breakfast."

"Lunch", Aeris corrected as she went into the living room instead of the adjoined kitchen.

"Whatever." Leo called back.

Flopping down comfortably on the couch, Aeris grabbed a controller from the table and turned on the TV. She flipped through the channels and relaxed herself until Leo finished with lunch. There wasn't anything really good on, so she settled on the Discovery channel. This was all that Aeris did until the sounds of cooking no longer came from the kitchen.

In a his best dramatic voice Leo marched out of the kitchen laden with a large tray balanced in each hand and announced loudly, "I present to you, the greatest breakfast of all time!"

"Lunch", Aeris corrected from the couch.

Leo sat down and said, still in his announcer's voice, "Whatever."

Aeris stood up from the couch and walked to her spot at the table, analyzing what Leo had made.

She was surprised. "You call it breakfast, it's actually lunch, but you made dinner food?"

Leo sipped at the coffee he'd poured himself. "Yes, and?"

"Well-… nothing." Aeris sat down again at looked at her tray. Leo had indeed made what could be called "dinner food". What he had made was Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, boiled vegetables, and Yorkshire pudding. He hadn't skimped on anything either, there was probably too much to be eaten in one sitting. The smell was great though. "_How the hell can he cook like this?" _Aeris dismissed the question. Now was not the time for questions, it was the time to eat, so she did.

It was delicious, like the last time but better. Aeris found herself shoveling food into her mouth in her hurry to taste more of it. Before she knew it, the whole thing was gone. She looked longingly at her plate before Leo picked it up.

Just as he was through the threshold into the kitchen Aeris called to him, "Leo wait, I'm helping with the dishes too. You can't expect me to let you do everything."

Leo leaned back in from the kitchen to look at Aeris, "m'kay."

They had a double sink so Aeris and Leo stood next to each other while they did the dishes, Leo washing, Aeris drying.

Aeris looked up at Leo for a moment while she worked. "Breakfast was great, by the way"

Leo continued to wash. "Thank you Aeris. Finally I acquire recognition for my awesomeness."

Aeris looked up and rolled her eyes before looking back at Leo. "You sure seem chipper today."

Leo shrugged. "Yeah, I had a crazy dream last night. You wouldn't believe it if you were there. It's got me in a real good mood today."

Aeris was drying a big plate. "That's funny, you had weird dream too. What was yours about?"

Leo started looking into empty space. "Oh you know, just a crazy dream." He looked at Aeris and Laughed. "You know the time machine? Well we got stuck in the future. There was this jungle and a space ship and this piratey looking guy and this crazy Doctor and yeah it was all really freaky, just that kind of thing."

Aeris fumbled with the plate and nearly dropped it. "_SHIT!"_ Placing it on the counter top she turned to Leo spoke in a rush, "Leo that sounds just like the dream I had. Quick, I want to know, how did yours end?"

Leo looked back, his expression anxious, "Well, there was this crazy doctor. He said his name was Rekaterin. He gave us this whole speech on how you and I were the last of our kind. Then he took out these syringes." Leo rubbed his middle unconsciously. "Then he stuck me with one and I… fell asleep I guess. Then I woke up and it was all gone. But it was only a dream, so who cares?"

Despite Leo's assurances he noticed that Aeris looked worried. "Aeris what is it, you look scared of something?"

Aeris's heart was racing in her chest and she felt a little sick. "Leo, I did have the same dream. Do you remember Clay and Maliek, or the ship or the collars?"

It was Leo who looked worried now. "Yes but how do you-? This isn't right. We can't have had the same dream."

The idea had dawned on Aeris the moment she'd figured out that they'd had the same dream. "Leo the dream we had wasn't a dream, this is the dream."

Leo paused, looking thoughtful. "So… like the movie _Inception_?"

Aeris looked at Leo. "No Leo that's- well actually yeah it is like Inception. But really Leo, really, Inception, that's what you- never mind. The point is that everything we remember is either real or we've both lost our minds?"

Leo looked around, unsure of what was real or not. He looked back at Aeris, still uncertain. "But how can we tell?"

"Allow me to answer that question."

The voice had emanated from everywhere at once, its point of origin impossible to determine. But the voice itself had been easy to recognize.

Leo and Aeris stared at each other, their eyes widened in abject horror.

Leo's lips quivered slightly. "Aeris, it's the crazy Doctor man again."

Aeris looked at the ceiling. "I know Leo."

Rekaterin's voice rose again."You are both correct, this is not a dream. Point of fact, you are inside a simulated environment generated by the room in which you find yourselves. You may recall my mentioning it. If you'd like to test this then open your front door and I'll show you where you are."

Leo and Aeris did as he bade them and ran to the door. But when they got to it they both stood on either side, not really wanting to see what waited for them.

Leo shrugged. "I guess there's no point holding it off. We aren't going anywhere."

Aeris nodded her agreement. "You have a point."

They opened the door and saw… nothing.

Through the threshold there was an empty blackness. To say that it was dark wouldn't begin to describe what they saw. The light from inside the apartment shined into it like the tendrils of the sun, stretching in all directions. But the light reached little more than twenty feet into the abyss. Beyond that even Aeris and Leo couldn't see.

Leo stepped forward, drawn into the darkness.

Aeris saw him move and grabbed at his back. "Leo don't!"

But rather than plummeting down into the emptiness, Leo's foot connected with what felt like a solid floor.

Aeris sighed in relief, and then she slapped Leo on the back of the head. "Dumbass!"

"Ow! What did you do that for?"

"Because you stepped into what is clearly not something you should be stepping into." She paused momentarily as she watched Leo move to the edge of the light, considering what it was they were looking at. "What does it feel like?"

Leo jumped up and down twice, testing the ground. "Dunno. It feels hard though." He reached down and stroked his fingertips along the floor. "And it's smooth."

Leo had turned back towards Aeris to tell her the second part and looking down he noticed for the first time how the light from the doorway seemed to go down past where the floor was, as if there wasn't actually a floor there. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. But that couldn't be, he was standing on it, there was very clearly a floor there.

Leo decided to point out the anomaly. "Aeris, how can the light be going down past the floor? I'm pretty sure that isn't possible, right?"

Aeris stuck her head out the door and looked down. As she noticed the same thing Leo had her head cocked sideways and her right eyebrow went up as her left lowered. "No, it shouldn't be."

Aeris decided that if Leo hadn't fallen she wouldn't either. She stepped out the door still looking down. She placed her hand over the lower half of her face and began tapping her foot repeatedly against the surface of whatever it was they were standing on. This didn't add up. The only way Aeris could think of the light behaving that way would be if the floor was transparent. But if that was the case then that would make her a little nervous, most of the transparent materials she could think of were not renowned for being sturdy.

While Aeris stood pondering the floor, Leo wandered back to where the light was weakest, near the sides of the door frame where the walls inside and the frame itself had prevented the flow of the light. When he was standing right next to Aeris he extended his hand and felt for the wall. It wasn't there. His hand went tight through where the wall should have been.

Aeris addressed him without looking up from the floor. "Leo, would you please get further away from me, it's annoying."

Leo was still scrutinizing his hand. "I think you'll be more interested in this than the floor Aeris."

Aeris turned to Leo, irritably. "Interested in what? "

She noticed where Leo's hand was in relation to the door, his entire forearm stuck past it. "Okaaay, that's weird." She looked at Leo. "Where is the wall?"

Leo didn't look away from his hand as he waved his fingers around, to check that he could still feel them. "Beats me." He withdrew his hand and looked at Aeris. "I'm going to see what's behind the door."

She looked back at him. "Yeah, me too."

So they walked around to the right of the doorframe, unsure of what to expect. What they found was nothing. They went entirely unhindered and found themselves directly behind the doorframe. They could very clearly see the frame outlined by the light but inside the frame there was nothing, just more empty space.

Aeris felt unsettled as a thought occurred to her. "Leo I want you to go back inside and stand where you think we are. Then call back out to, alright?"

Leo was puzzled but nodded his acknowledgement nevertheless. "Okay."

Aeris watched Leo disappear as he turned past the frame. She waited, listening for the sound of Leo's voice.

From inside the house Leo shouted out towards the door, "Hey Aeris, can you hear me?'

His answer was swift. "Yow! Stop yelling Leo I can hear you like you're next to me."

Leo turned in circles a few times, hearing Aeris in just the manner she'd described. When he stopped he looked at the door. "I'm sure that's real interesting, but can I come back out now?"

He heard Aeris's voice again. "Yeah, come back out. I guess that's just another mystery to add to the list."

When Leo got back he saw Aeris examining the empty space inside the doorframe. She was about a foot away from it. When Aeris noticed Leo standing there she spoke. "Leo, I want you to stand next to the doorframe and tell me if you see anything when I do this-"She stuck her hand through into the space. "-got that?"

"Mmm hmm." Leo turned to face the frame and watched both sides. "Ready when you are, fearless leader."

Aeris gave Leo a withering look and stuck her hand through.

Just then Rekaterin's voice rang in their heads."Alright I've had enough of this. You two are so absurdly boring."

Aeris and Leo suddenly felt themselves plummeting down into the void as the light of the door faded into the distance above them. As they fell they heard Rekaterin's voice in their heads. He sounded angry. "I let you two out only so that you could see where you were, not so that you could experiment with the physics of the simulator."

Abruptly the falling sensation stopped. There was no longer any light but Leo and Aeris could still somehow see each other. Rekaterin's voice continued. "In this place there is nothing beyond the borders of my imaginings. All that exists is mine. Every particle, every breath of air you take is mine."

As Rekaterin finished those final words Aeris and Leo suddenly found that they could no longer breathe. Clutching at their throats they sucked in lungfuls of what should have been air, but there was no relief. They breathed in and out desperately but there was nothing.

Rekaterin's voice took an edge, "You're lives are mine."

The next breath that Leo and Aeris took had air, finally. They gasped hoarsely, chests heaving. In the next few moments nothing happened. Rekaterin didn't speak and everything else was still. The only noise came from the trembling bodies suspended in the emptiness.

In an instant there was a titanic alteration in the stygian darkness. There was no warning, one moment they were suspended in the air, the next the entire world had changed. There was water, tons of water, and it pressed down on them like the hands of some malevolent god. They were thrown through it by the currents. It tasted salty. Just as before, they felt the burning need for oxygen. Above them they could see light but the currents pulled them down, deeper into the brine as they struggled helplessly against it. Their efforts were wasted and the current sent then down as far as it liked, mercilessly tearing them away from the light.

But suddenly the currents changed and they found themselves being propelled rapidly upward, faster than should have been possible. They felt the water streaming down their bodies like they were being pulled up be rockets.

Two limp forms were cast out of the waves crashing at the surface and landed heavily on a dark sandy beach. Hacking, they struggled onto their knees to escape the surf washing up next to them. When they reached the upper part of the shore they crumpled down onto their backs and wept.

It was dusk and the fog rolled in from what was now seen to be an ocean, vast and ominous in its violent power.

Rekaterin's voice echoed in the ears of the forsaken pair one final time. "Understand this. The world you're in will kill you if I wish it. For you this is as real as anything you've ever experienced. You will never know what will come next or when you are safe. There is only one way that you live and that is by performing every action exactly as I instruct you to. I will not always come, but when I do you are less than slaves."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Honestly, by show of hands, who thought that this whole thing had just been a dream? I bet that would have been annoying. **

**So it has come to this. I must express to you the urge that I feel to discover what happens next, so be assured that the next chapter will arrive as soon as I am able to put it here.**

**I leave you now, wondering. But I vow to return  
><strong>


	10. Chapter Ten: Awakening

**Chapter Ten: Awakening**

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><p>As the fog reached the shore the tide began to rise, the waves reaching higher and higher along the shore line. Seagulls could be heard crying and the oceans breath blew through the grass covered hills and cliffs that stood all along the edge of the sand.<p>

As the tide rose it reached the still bodies of Leo and Aeris lying in the sand. As it washed up against their ankles they began to stir, finally. Though exhausted and torn by the two near death experiences they'd endured, their desire to escape what had been one of the major sources of their suffering overcame their weakness. They managed to escape the beach and reached the base of a hill that rested just past the edge of the sand.

Here the last of their strength failed them and they collapsed into the soft embrace of the waiting grass. Enveloped in the swaying waves of grass and barely warmed by the now setting sun they fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

><p>Through the night only things that stirred were the gulls. Aeris and Leo slept peacefully, despite the ordeal that lay just behind them. Finally, the sun began to rise. As it did the fog dissipated slightly and the first vestiges of warmth seeped into the unfortunate pair resting at the foot of the hill. It was this first feeling of warmth that roused them.<p>

Where a normal person would in all probability have succumbed to hypothermia by now, aided by their fur, Leo and Aeris had escaped such a fate. But even their fur had not allowed them to escape the cold entirely. As Aeris wrested herself from the comforting embrace of her grassy bed she felt herself shivering. When she'd gotten herself onto her knees she noticed that Leo was too. Regarding him, she watched as Leo stretch himself painfully. Aeris stood, her muscles protesting in pain at the movements. Apparently the grass had not been as comfortable as she'd thought a moment ago.

Leo stood too, and felt joints in his knees and back pop as he did. Placing both hands on his back his shoved forward, bending his spine and sending out a series of crackling snaps into the wind.

Aeris turned to Leo. "I wish you wouldn't do that, it sounds disgusting."

Leo continued his cracking, now with his neck. "You do it all the time."

"Yeah, with my knuckles, but that isn't the same."

Leo turned to Aeris now. "How is it not the same? I don't see the difference."

"Because… never mind." A strong gust of wind blew through. As it ran through Aeris's fur it reminded her of how cold she was. "We should get a fire going."

The wind had not gone unnoticed by Leo either, who promptly wrapped his arms around himself. "Great idea, but there is one problem, there isn't any wood here. I dunno about you, but all I see is sand and grass."

"You forgot water." Aeris smirked.

"Well look who has a sense of humor.", his voice was laden with sarcasm, "I guess it's reasonable that it only took two near death experiences for it to finally come out."

"… Ha ha"

Leo grinned mischievously. Speaking with even more sarcasm, "Yes, we'll make a water fire! That'll definitely keep us nice and toasty. Hey, and there's no short supply either. We could light the world on fire if we wanted, all we need is mountains of water!"

Leo continued to rant while Aeris looked up at the sky and sighed in exasperation.

She looked around and saw nothing but sand, water and more hills in all directions. Leo meanwhile was enjoying a flamboyant monologue, gesturing wildly with his hands as he described some absurd scenario staging himself and Aeris as the subjects of some wild fantasy. But he halted, mid-sentence, when he was interrupted by a ballistic stick that struck him on the back of the head.

"Hey, who threw that?" Leo looked around as he asked the question, as if a multitude of potentially guilty parties were present.

Aeris was standing in the sand now, flipped another stick in her hand. She smiled, "Driftwood."

Leo turned to her. "What?"

Aeris chuckled and tossed the second stick at Leo. "I said driftwood. That's what we're going to make the fire from." She turned back to the ocean and began walking down the beach looking for more of it. She called back to Leo, "now stop yapping and help me find more of it."

Leo rushed to Aeris's side and began scouring the sand enthusiastically. "I bet I can find more than you can."

Aeris bent down to pick up another piece. "This isn't a game Leo, we're just finding wood."

Leo laughed as his impish little mind twisted her words. He scoffed at Aeris. "Pshaw, you just know that you can't beat me. My incredible skills intimidate you, don't they Aeris?"

Aeris continued to search, dismissing Leo's comment. "If by skills you mean idiocy and by intimidate you irritate then yes."

Leo suddenly spotted a choice piece of wood near the edge of the water. It was a substantial log about four feet long. He rushed into to get it and bent over to pick it up.

As Aeris watched him bending over inspiration struck. She didn't see the harm in some exercise. It might even help warm them up.

Leo was just picking up the log when Aeris planted her foot on his rear and sent him flying into the water. When Leo emerged, spluttering, he was greeted by the sight of Aeris charging down the sand with _his_ log in hand.

Aeris laughed maniacally behind her, "Hey Leo, I'm winning!"

Leo shouted back, "Cheater!", and raced after her.

So for the moment their misery was forgotten as they fought to gather the greater quantity of wood for their fire.

A brief reprieve from their otherwise bleak situation.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I felt that perhaps some pleasantness was overdue and this felt like just the thing. I hope that I've relieved some of the misery that may have been developing. **

**I realize that the chapter is rather short, sorry about that. But I think it's the "short and sweet" kind of short. **

**Feel free to leave a review, I appreciate each one.**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Creation

**Chapter Eleven****: Creation**

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><p>While Leo and Aeris tried to relieve some measure of their suffering Rekaterin stood in his office making preparations for yet another pressing engagement.<p>

A single guard stood in front of his desk. Its hands held behind its back, it addressed Rekaterin through its gasmask. The voice was clearly masculine but the speakers in the mask made it sound crackly and distorted. "Sir, I'm here to remind you that the inspection is going to arrive this week, at the earliest two cycles from now."

Rekaterin halted his preparations to look vehemently at the guard. "Do you believe that I am not fully aware of that Lieutenant? I've been thinking of little else recently."

The guard was impassive. "When the new test subjects arrived you left specific orders stating that you were to be given at least two cycles notice before the next inspection."

Suddenly Rekaterin smiled, the thought of his two new prizes instantly putting him in a much better mood. "So I did, Lieutenant, so I did. Very well-", he resumed his preparations, "-have their ship monitored closely. Under no circumstances are we to have any unexpectedly early arrivals. Is this clear to you Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir. Will there be anything else?"

Rekaterin waved his hand dismissively, long since bored by the conversation. "Have the new subjects moved to the hidden chamber exactly one hour before the Paloridian arrive. Do not disturb me further until then."

The guard saluted. "Yes sir, we'll have the scanners prepped immediately."

"Very good Lieutenant, you are dismissed."

"Sir." The guard saluted once more and marched purposefully from the room.

When he'd gone Rekaterin looked down at the desk and rubbed his hands together cheerfully. "Fifty hours is more than sufficient time. Now then, let's see what we have."

On the desk a number of objects had been laid down. It was mostly a mass of surgical equipment. Vials filled with a mixture of clear and colored fluids, several syringes, a stack of plain white cloth, and a small tranquilizer pistol complete with tranquilizer darts, were also included in his equipment.

Rekaterin looked at one particular vial with particular interest and affection. It was a special vial, filled with a special substance that he had only just developed. It was the key component that would finally make one of his greater endeavors possible, the acquisition of more power.

A self-satisfied smile stretched across his face. "Perfect."

Rekaterin gathered his equipment and placed it all in a large black surgeon's bag. Save the dart gun, which he loaded and placed in his pocket. Seizing the handle, he walked up to one of the bookshelves.

Another one of the secret doors folded out of the book shelves and Rekaterin strolled into the room it led to, the bag holding his equipment swinging in time with his step. The sight that greeted him drew an unpleasant smile to his lips.

There was a cold metal surgical table situated on top of a pedestal. Little else occupied the room. Strapped tightly to the table there was a body, and it was moving.

The body had dozens of needles shoved into its skull, arms, legs, and abdomen. Each needle connected by pipes to outlets at the base of the pedestal. The needles restricted movement, but whatever was on the table heard the sound of Rekaterin's footsteps. In perfect English it asked, "Who's there? Why are you here?"

Rekaterin progressed far enough into the room to stand at the foot of the table, where he could get a full view of its occupant.

Its body was many shades of blue and deep green. The colors were lightest on its stomach, nearly white, and grew progressively darker towards its back. It had two large crystal blue eyes that glowed in the light, the centers shining brightest.

Its build was very clearly masculine, by human standards, though it was entirely devoid of any immediately recognizable gender qualifiers.

It appeared to be designed for a vastly aquatic environment. It had gills and webbed hands and feet. It was apparently amphibious however, there wasn't a breathing apparatus attached to it anywhere. Its skin was glossy, hairless, and entirely smooth.

Rekaterin responded to the amphibians question in exasperation, dropping his shoulders and looking at the ceiling, "Why must they all ask me that same question? It should be obvious who I am." He put down his bag, continuing his speech. "I'm responsible for everything that goes on in here. I even make a point of personally meeting each new arrival. Is it honestly possible that I'm being so ambiguous when introducing myself that they don't even know who I am? Is that genuinely possible?"

The answer infuriated the unfortunate alien. His English was spoken clearly, but very formally. "If you are responsible for this then I demand that I be released. I am a full citizen of the Paloridian. You may check the public records. I was assigned the name Makani Ne'igalomeatiga. You are not permitted to do such things as this. This is kidnapping."

Rekaterin smiled at the name, he found its meaning amusing. "Oh yes, the Paloridian does have quite the affinity for giving your kind such charming names. Frankly, I don't know why you choose to come here. They hate you so much."

The alien struggled to hold his composure. "What have you done to me?'

Rekaterin stalked the length of the table, running his hand over the line of the incision that the surgeons had left from a visit he had ordered several hours previously as he did.

As he swept his hand away off Makani**,** Rekaterin finally responded to the question. "Believe me, you'll see soon enough-" He turned his back away and walked over to a lever that jutted from the wall just above head level. He added, "-you'll feel it too."

All the calm drained from Makani's voice. He forced his next question through a panic. "Feel what? What are you going to do to me?"

Rekaterin ignored his question. "You know, there's something to be said for a lever, it's just so much more… dramatic."

The panic was barely restrained, Makani was nearly screaming now. "What are you saying-", he struggled against his bonds, "-are you insane?"

Rekaterin smiled mirthlessly, only a cruel humor was displayed. "Oh, I wouldn't say insane. But the point is moot." He pressed his palm against the lever and one by one coiled his fingers around the handle. Rekaterin's voice shuddered with unrestrained pleasure. "Oh this is going to be fun."

He threw down his shoulder and yanked the leaver down.

* * *

><p>The screams were unearthly, like nothing the human imagination could conjure outside of its deepest nightmares. Every part of Makani's body writhed horribly in sheer unimaginable pain, arching, twisting, and warping in ways the human body never could. The screams ended only when a membrane of skin formed over Makani's open mouth, nearly cutting off the sounds, but not quite. The pain continued unabated.<p>

The space around the incision line began to bulge. Inside of Makani there was something moving, and it was trying to get out. But Makani's stomach wouldn't give, so it began to move up, straight through his body.

Now the muffled screams changed, even through the skin, they could almost be heard clearly again.

The shape had reached Makani's throat now, but it was too small around, so the shape writhed and wormed its way up, trying to force its way through.

The screams began to die, replaced by the sound of tearing flesh.

Rekaterin moved in. "Yes, yes my beautiful one, it's time to come out now. It's time to see the world I built for you." A scalpel was poised in his fingers ready for use. He applied to the membrane of skin that had formed over Makani's mouth and sliced it open.

Goaded by the fresh opening the shape moved even faster. But there was still no room.

Two white curved claws pierced what remained of the skin. They clamped onto either jaw and began forcing the two halves apart. Makani's final most terrible scream was ended as the creature literally tore his head in half.

From the ruined body emerged a slime covered abomination. A white skinned horror made of nothing but skin, bone, teeth and claws. As it ripped its way out it hauled Makani's innards behind it.

Rekaterin had first moved in to enjoy watching Makani die up close. But now he leapt back to avoid getting blood on himself. His heart was racing. He inched forward, addressing the creature. "Well done my little one-", he reached forward, "-the next step is finished."

* * *

><p>The monster yanked its eyes towards the oncoming hand.<p>

Its head was the shaped like a diamond, except curved at the face. Its eyes were huge, almond shaped, a solid yellow color. It did not appear to have a mouth.

Now that it was facing him, Rekaterin saw the only imperfection in its otherwise flawlessly white skin. A black diamond covered its face, stretching from its pointed chin to the back of its head. The whiteness still showed at the sides of its face.

Its body was sleek, wiry, and smooth**. **It measured about a meter in length from head to tail. Its hind limbs were long and gangly, jointed back. Its forelimbs were longer than its hind ones and were double jointed at the shoulders, giving it human like arms that stuck out left and right.

Each limb ended with a dexterous four fingered hand. Each finger was tipped by wickedly curved two inch claws, which gleamed in a strangely metallic way. The thing was covered in muscle everywhere, from its narrow neck to its tail.

After looking into the creatures eyes, Rekaterin withdrew his hand. The look it was giving him was far from friendly. In fact, it looked hungry.

Rekaterin took a step back and the creature turned back towards the body it had just vacated.

It opened its mouth. The bottom half of its face split in half and stretched out to the sides. From the edges, eight fangs unfolded, four for each side. In the center of its mouth a set of teeth circled around its gullet, meshing together to cover it.

Saliva was dripping from its mouth now. This too was dangerous. Rekaterin had designed the creature's saliva glands to produce venom of equal potency to that utilized in its fangs. If the saliva were to somehow enter the bodies system, the danger would be presented would be near the equivalent to having been bitten.

After looking at Makani's dead body for a few moments, the creature began systematically slicing off pieces of flesh. It brought the food up to its inner teeth, which opened up to snatch the food away, drawing each piece down into its throat.

Now that Rekaterin was no longer the creature's main focus, he slowly withdrew the dart gun from his pocket. All that was required was to hit it once. Each dart contained more than enough sedative to incapacitate it. The only problem would be hitting it.

If the creature was made aware that he was a threat, Rekaterin would fare no better than Makani had. Bitten or mutilated, he was sure his end would be both long and excruciating. Luckily for him, he would be avoiding all of this with his first shot.

In his right hand, he raised the pistol and took aim. The creature remained consumed in its meal. Rekaterin smiled. Now he would have something to show the Paloridian when they arrived, a new weapon he was certain would gain him great favor.

Rekaterin lifted his thumb and clicked the safety off.

The creatures head snapped up. Rekaterin fired. The creature flew off the body like lightning, leaping onto one of the walls across from the table. The dart hadn't even come close.

The creatures claws sank into the metal like it was little more than soft wood. It shot up the walls.

It was on the ceiling now.

Meanwhile, Rekaterin tried to shoot the monster as it ripped back and forth on the ceiling, avoiding each shot. Soon it was directly above him.

Using its hind legs, it hurled itself downward towards Rekaterin's head.

Rekaterin began to step back, but was too late. The creature landed on his thigh.

Before he could shoot it, its mouth snapped open and it sank all eight fangs into his thigh, injecting its venom.

But before it could do anything further, Rekaterin shot it three times in the head, emptying the last of the clip.

As the action locked back, signaling that Rekaterin was out of ammunition, the creature rolled off his thigh and onto its back, unconscious. But for Rekaterin it was too late. With the amount of poison he had just received, the symptoms would manifest in moments.

He had only one hope, the vial resting in the surgeon's case. Inside that was what he had been developing for months now, an antidote to the venom now coursing through his veins.

He rushed over to the bag and kneeled down. His hands were starting to shake and he had difficulty opening the bag, already he was beginning to lose motor control. If he didn't hurry total paralysis would set in and he wouldn't even be able to administer the antidote. Breathing raggedly, he cursed as he fumbled with the case.

Finally, it opened.

Rekaterin emptied its contents onto the floor and watched them spilling everywhere, seeking out the vial that represented his salvation.

At last he found it. Snatching it up, he now grabbed from the floor a syringe. He knew how much venom he'd received and he knew the ratio necessary to counteract the venom. Use too much and he would die, use too little and the venom would kill him anyway.

He went through the numbers in his mind, caught between his panicked rush and fear of a lethal miscalculation. Doubt clouded his mind. Almost from the moment he'd been bitten, he'd begun to feel a sense of complete impending doom. It was crushing and terrifying. It hung over him like an unimaginable weight, strangling him. He knew that this was only one of the initial symptoms of the venom, but that awareness did not make the feeling any less real.

He forced himself to work through the panic and, finally, he was sure he had the right number.

By now Rekaterin's hands were shaking so violently that the when he missed the vials stopper with the syringe, he nearly dropped the vial. But by clutching his arms to his chest, he succeeded in penetrating the vial and withdrawing the appropriate dose. He took the syringe and rammed the it into his thigh.

Now, he waited.

His heart was hammering painfully in his chest.

There were more symptoms, he only had so long before they came. If his condition progressed far enough and the symptoms didn't show signs of leaving quickly, then he was going to die.

The minutes crawled, each moment an eon as he waited.

He'd lain down, but could no longer move. The paralysis had almost set in completely now. Breathing became difficult.

Twenty minutes passed and still he felt the changes happening in his body.

A burning pain welled up inside him. Dread followed as Rekaterin realized he was going to die. The venom had done its work. If the venom had worked this far into his system then he'd given himself the wrong dose.

The pain rapidly became unbearable and now Rekaterin screamed just as Makani had. In what he knew to be his final moments he cursed the universe and how unjustly it had cheated him, ending his life before he could achieve greater echelons of power. He screamed out his hatred into the emptiness of the room, the sound falling on the ears of no one.

But as if in answer to his protests, Rekaterin suddenly began to feel his looming death drifting away. In moments, the sense of doom was gone. The antidote had worked!

It was only a few more minutes before Rekaterin felt completely normal. As if the incident had never happened at all.

* * *

><p>Rekaterin was finished wallowing in his unfounded despair. Surrounded by his surgical equipment, he sat up. Picking himself up off the ground he brushed himself off and gathered up his scattered tools. Standing on still shaky legs, he walked over to the now slumbering creature.<p>

Picking it up by its neck, Rekaterin lifted the monster he'd created and threw it against the nearest wall. It slid limply to the floor, but remained unconscious

Rekaterin looked down on its body spitefully. "You stupid creature. You should know better than to attack your master." He walked up to the wall and was tempted to kick the sleeping beast, but thought better of it. If he was to exhibit this to the Paloridian he didn't want to risk any more damage than had no less than a moment ago.

So instead he picked it up once more, this time cradling it delicately in his arms. Looking down at it resting there, he felt his pride returning. This thing he'd created, it was barely old enough to be called a newborn and yet it had nearly killed him. He could only imagine how lethal it would become once it reached full maturity.

He smiled at the thought of entire settlements fleeing, terrified, from a nightmare of his creation.

Rekaterin was not concerned with it waking. There was enough sedative running through it to keep it asleep for an entire cycle. Even if it did wake up, with the chemicals still present in its system, it would remain near sedentary for several more hours.

Before he left the room, Rekaterin stopped next to what remained of Makani's body and smiled. "How funny it is that you, having been wrongfully thought of as a monster ever since you came into the dominion of the Paloridian, would serve as the vessel to deliver one into the world yourself." He smirked at the thought. "They consider you to be worse than a demon, but you're not even close."

Rekaterin turned away from Makani and walked out of the room.

Once he put his creation in its pen he had something else to he wanted return to. It was high time that he revisited his new favorites in the simulator.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: My my, nearly two weeks and this is the result.**

**It seems that we have some new pieces in our game, doesn't it.** **I hope you're all excited for what's coming up next. **

**Truthfully, I nearly have the next chapter finished already, you can expect it by next Monday.**

**As per usual, feel free to review. I do so love reading them. ** **Perhaps more will encourage me to write faster, who knows**


	12. Chapter Twelve:Fire, wood, and Voyeurism

**Chapter Twelve: Fire, wood, and Voyeurism**

* * *

><p>After having gathered what seemed like enough wood, Aeris and Leo sought out shelter. The beach had widened significantly compared to where they'd first landed and what they eventually found was a small cave located at the base of a cliff hundreds of feet from the lapping waves of the tide.<p>

Walking barefoot to the foot of the cliff, their shoes long since discarded and subsequently lost, they examined the cave and found it more than suited to their needs. That decided they made camp.

Satisfied with their work, Leo and Aeris sat down inside their new home to rest and watch the world go by.

The sun was setting into the ocean on their right.

Leo and Aeris hadn't spoken for some time now, but Aeris had been watching the sun set and she'd noticed something. She looked down at the sand. "We're on a peninsula."

Leo had been lying down but he sat up now. "A what?'

"A peninsula." Aeris took in Leo's confused expression and explained, "It's a piece of land that's surrounded by water on three sides. We must be near the tip, because when the sun rose this morning it was over the ocean and it's setting in the ocean now."

Understanding dawned on Leo. "Ohhh, I get it."

"I'm sure you do."

Leo looked longingly at the piles of wood that they'd left in the sun to dry. "Aeris, tell me again why we can't burn the wood inside the cave."

Aeris began drawing in the sand with a stick she'd found. "I told you before Leo, because if we burn it, we might as well just ask for cancer. When you burn it, driftwood emits polychlorinated dibenzodioxins from burning the seawater in the wood."

Leo's head dropped to one side. "Poly-wha?"

"Chlorinated dibenzodioxins."

Leo fell down into the sand again. "You know, repeating it doesn't make it any easier to understand."

Aeris stopped drawing to look up at the cave ceiling, "It just gives you cancer. We can't have the fire in the cave because it gives you cancer, get it?"

Leo smirked. "I thought you wanted me to get cancer."

Aeris frowned. "Oh I do, I really do. But I have to sleep in here too, so no fire in the cave."

Leo pouted at the concept of less warmth. "Fine, but can we at least get the fire _started_, if the sun is setting it's gonna get dark soon, and that means cold."

Leo had finally managed to conjure an idea Aeris could agree with. "Good idea, let's go get the wood then."

* * *

><p>When they came back, arms burdened with wood, Leo noticed something in the imprint from where he'd been lying earlier.<p>

Dropping his wood pile, he went over to examine it. Picking up what had grabbed his attention, he realized that it looked like a lighter, specifically, a Zippo lighter. He turned towards Aeris and beckoned her over. "Hey Aeris, check this out."

Aeris had also dropped her wood pile and was arranging the beginnings of what would be their fire. She looked up from her work to answer Leo, "What is it?"

"I think I found a lighter."

Aeris stood up and walked over to stand next to him. "On the beach? Where could it have come from?"

Leo stared at the lighter. "I don't know, but I swear it wasn't there earlier. It was sticking straight out of the sand where I was before. I would've noticed it."

Aeris looked behind her to where Leo had been lying down. The imprint from his body was there and right in the center of where his back had been was a deeper imprint. Sure enough it looked like the lighter had been standing vertical to the sand and showed no signs of having been pressed further into it by Leo's body.

Aeris felt bewildered. "So what, it just appeared magically?

Leo looked up at the sky, unnerved. "Maybe he put it there… while we were gone."

Aeris shook her head. "Why would he do that?"

Leo kept staring up into the sky. "I don't know, but where else could it have come from?" Leo trailed off for a moment. "It's not like there's anyone else here with us."

Aeris stuck out her hand. "Give it to me for a minute, if it works, we may as well use it."

Leo handed Aeris the lighter and followed her back to the wood piles. He watched her try to use the lighter on her small pile of kindling several times before she hurled it away in frustration. "Damn thing's out of lighter fluid."

Leo looked at the spot where the lighter had landed. "Now why would he give us something as completely useless as that?"

Aeris shrugged. "I don't know Leo. To fuck with us maybe, either way, we'll still have a fire. That would have made this a lot faster though. Now go get more wood from the rest of the piles."

Leo did as instructed.

When they'd found the cave, it had only been because most of the beach at that point was almost covered in driftwood of all sizes from the beach to the cliff. From this, they had constructed a ramshackle little structure starting at the edge of the cave, using mostly the larger logs.

Soon Leo had several piles of wood situated all around their little home ready for use.

True to her word, Aeris eventually got a semi-substantial fire started outside the cave where the smoke wouldn't reach them. Just as she'd said, it had taken her much longer to get one started without the lighter, by the time she really had the fire going it was already dark.

Back in the cave, Leo sat in a ball shivering. Though largely sheltered from the wind by the cave and warmed slightly by the fire, Leo still felt very cold. Their clothes had never really dried off and as the temperature dropped Leo had begun to notice.

Uncurling himself, Leo left the cave and approached Aeris, who was now sitting upwind to the recently completed fire, feeding it more wood. Leo sat down next to her, relishing the fires warmth.

But it still wasn't enough. Now that he was no longer in the cave the wind made Leo feel even colder in his wet cloths. So naturally, he began to take them off.

When Aeris saw Leo taking off his shirt she couldn't help but ask, "Uh, Leo? What are you doing?"

As the shirt came over his head Leo grabbed a number of sticks, setting up a makeshift rack, and set his shirt up next to the fire to dry. "What does it look like? I'm drying off my cloths." When he'd finished hanging up his shirt, Leo's hands began working at his belt.

When Aeris saw Leo take off his belt and start undoing his pants she caught on to what would happen next. Her eyes widened in captive shock, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Leo. At least give me a warning before you take your god damn pants off!"

Thankfully, Leo halted halfway through undoing his fly. He looked at Aeris incomprehensively. "What is it? I'm freezing and these pants aren't helping."

Aeris tore her eyes away from Leo's pants. "Just warn me for christ's sake. If you're going to do that then we need to set up a barrier or something for the night."

Leo shrugged his indifference. "Okay, but hurry up, I'm still cold over here."

Aeris kept herself turned away from Leo while she went about gathering up yet more sticks. "Come and help me with this Leo. I want to make a wall in the cave so we can sleep separately."

Leo chuckled. "What, are you too worried that you won't be able to keep your hands off me during the night?"

Aeris turned back towards Leo to deliver a biting retort and instantly regretted it. By now Leo had stood to follow her, but had not taken any measure to cover himself. As a result, when Aeris looked at him, she saw perhaps more than she wanted to. Her remark died on her lips and all thoughts fled her mind. She turned away quickly, blushing inwardly. "_Get it together Aeris. This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. Get it together."_

Having gathered herself, Aeris addressed Leo without looking. "Just come on."

Leo chuckled again and did as Aeris bade him.

But Aeris's ordeal was far from over. While in the cave, she could still see very well, and since Leo was helping her, she couldn't help but see him each time she looked up from the small barrier they were making. When it was finally complete Aeris almost ran out of the cave.

"Alright Leo, you can… undress yourself now. Just toss your cloths out and _I'll_ put them next to the fire, and for god's sake do _not_ come out."

From inside the cave Aeris could here Leo snickering. Had she not known what he was doing, she would have immediately barged into the cave and beaten him senseless. But she did know what he was doing and any barging in would have to wait until later. So Aeris was reduced to fuming silently outside, plotting all the vengeful torment she would exert on Leo later.

Her devious planning was interrupted by Leo's pants as they were expelled from the cave entrance to fall softly at her feet. Seeing them, Aeris went to pick them up, but she stopped when the pants were followed shortly by a second article of clothing.

At this Aeris stood openmouthed, she had not imagined that Leo was planning on getting completely naked. Knowing this made the prospect of going back into the cave all the more uncomfortable.

For now she grabbed his pants and, much more delicately, his… undergarments. Then, just as promised, Aeris hung them up next to fire just as a cold gust of wind blew past. It sent shivers down her body and suddenly Aeris understood the practicality of what Leo had done. She would have felt inclined to do the same, save for one thing. She was planning on sleeping in the cave, which would mean right next to Leo, who was naked.

Aeris mulled over this for a long while. Finally, she made her decision and walked back to the cave. Before she went in she turned around abruptly, so that she was facing away from the interior, sparing herself from the view. She turned her head toward the cave, just a little. "Alright Leo, I'm going to get out of these cloths now, so if you know what's good for you, you won't be coming out, got it."

Leo's reply was near instant. "Got it."

"Good." Aeris nodded at the sand in front of her decisively. Now that that was taken care of Aeris stepped to the side of the cave entrance where Leo couldn't see her and began undressing.

From inside the cave Leo was looking out at where Aeris had been standing moments earlier. But when she stepped to the right of the cave, Leo realized that he could still see her rather clearly through a space between the edge of the cave and the beginning of their wooden structure.

At first Leo felt inclined to let Aeris know that he could see her but Leo was helpless to resist the compulsion that rapidly took hold over him.

He stared breathlessly at Aeris in fascination as her pants slipped slowly down her shapely legs. Her back straitened and Leo watched, entranced, as Aeris grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it slowly over her head.

From inside the cave, Leo almost choked as he tried to process what he was seeing. Aeris, standing in front of him, near naked. She was wearing silken undergarments of a pink-purple color, hemmed in black lace, pressing closely to her skin.

But the show only got better. Slowly, Aeris reached behind her back to search for the clasp to her bra. She found it. Leo's eyes were fixated on Aeris's every move. He watched her undo the clasp and pull the straps off her back and down her shoulders.

As she removed the cups from her breasts, she covered them, denying Leo some, but not all, of what he wanted to see.

Aeris had been putting her clothes in a pile to her left and she placed her bra there. But this time she stayed turned towards the pile, giving Leo a full side profile view of her sensuous curves.

Removing her hands from her chest, Aeris reached down to her sides and pulled down the last thing concealing her body. Leo gasped audibly. He couldn't help it, from the side he could see everything, from her long muscular legs, to her firm shapely breasts, to the face he knew so well, all laid out before him in the most unexpected way.

Outside the cave Aeris thought she heard a noise. Her head came up sharply and she looked behind her suspiciously, "_What was that?" _

She stalked back towards the entrance to the cave_. "It sounded like Leo." s_he shook her head, _"No, it couldn't have been Leo… unless he's peeking." _Her brows darkened, but she shook her head again._ "No, not even he's that stupid." _She thought about it. _"Aeris, this is Leo we're talking about."_

So Aeris kept moving back towards the entrance.

Inside the cave Leo covered his hands with his mouth. _"Shit shit shit! She heard me. Okay Leo, stay calm, lay down, she doesn't know about the hole. Just play it cool. Oh god she's coming."_

Aeris stopped just outside the cave when she remembered that Leo was still naked inside. She called into the entrance, her head barely peeking in. "Hey Leo?"

Leo surprised himself with the speed and brilliance of his answer. "Yes."

Aeris tried very hard not to look inside, if she did she knew she would get an even better view than the one she had earlier, a concept that was widely conflicting. "Eh, I heard something from inside there a second ago. It wasn't you was it?"

Leo's mind redoubled its efforts to come up with an answer. "Oh, that was nothing. I just got a nasty splinter from the stick wall thing."

Aeris nodded enthusiastically from outside the cave, previous thoughts of gutting Leo forgotten in her haste to escape the urge to look inside. "…oh, I see. Okay then well I'll just get back to… yeah bye Leo." She hurried away from the entrance to gather her things.

Inside the cave Leo sighed his relief. Luckily for him Aeris did not hear it this time. He had just come that close to death, his only savior being his nakedness.

Aeris hung her clothes, careful to stay outside of where she assumed Leo's field of view extended, and went back to the cave. But before she went in she stumbled on an alarming image.

She'd been so flustered earlier she'd neglected to consider that in order to go back into the cave she would have to do so completely nude. That would mean walking naked right past an equally naked Leo without being seen or looking at him while at the same time navigating her way to her spot. _"… Dammit."_

Once again she stopped outside the entrance and poked her head in from the side. "Uh… Leo."

Thinking she'd come back to murder him Leo began to worry again. His voice shuddering slightly, he replied. "Yes."

"I uh… have to come in now."

Leo wrapped his head around that thought. "…oh."

Aeris tried to find the right thing to say at this particular moment. "Yeah, so I'm going to walk past you now-", her voice became steely all of the sudden, "-and you'd better not look."

Leo shook his head inside the cave. "Of course not. No peeking, promise."

Aeris accepted his answer, feeling uncomfortable again. "Good. So uh… I'm coming in now, so close your eyes."

Leo closed his eyes. "They're closed."

"Good."

Feeling very self conscious Aeris stepped into the cave and began to narrate what she was doing, "I am now inside the cave."

"Okay."

Aeris started towards her spot. "I am now walking towards my spot."

Everything was going smoothly, but before Aeris could reach her portion of the cave, Leo posed a question. "Um Aeris, you aren't peeking at me either, are you?"

Aeris stumbled. Up to now she had actually been looking at the roof of the cave to avoid doing exactly that. But now that he'd brought it up she began to feel that same kind of urge when you watch a movie with a truly horrible scene playing out. The kind of scene where you can't stand to watch but you can't stop watching either.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She could feel every frantic beat in her head like a drum. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Just before she reached her spot the struggle ended abruptly. She couldn't help it, she peeked. She gasped, just as Leo had, and rushed down onto the floor on her side of the cave.

Once there, Aeris was surprised that Leo made not the slightest remark besides the question about her peeking at him. She would have thought that he would have made a least one lewd comment to satisfy his perverted mind. It was peculiar, and she wondered at it.

Meanwhile, next to her, on the other side of the barrier, Leo was near dead with glee. He was grinning so widely that his face hurt and he couldn't care less.

Aeris was interrupted in her thinking when she heard him from the other side of the wall. "Goodnight Aeris."

Aeris blinked as she tried to think of something to say, trying not to think about what she'd seen. "Um yes, definitely, goodnight to you too Leo."

On either side of the tiny wall of sticks Leo and Aeris both thought to themselves, _"I am definitely not getting any sleep tonight." _

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><p><strong>AN: Well I'm sure that none of you saw that coming, did you. I'll be honest, I was feeling vastly trepidatious about writing this one, but I thought you would all enjoy it so I did it anyway. I sure hope that I made the right decision there. Hehe.  
><strong>

**Now, to the matter at hand. Very few of you have been leaving reviews. Clearly my nice fellow antics are not sufficient, so I shall have to raise of fist of... Oh never mind. Just leave some reviews dammit! You cause me no end of distress with your silence. I don't care how minor the comment may seem, just say it will you!  
><strong>


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Rift

**Chapter 13: The Rift**

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><p>Contrary to what they had first imagined, Leo and Aeris did sleep, rather peacefully in fact.<p>

Leo woke up in much the same way as he'd fallen asleep, grinning wildly to himself.

As far as he was concerned, he had no reason not to. He he'd been thinking very little of anything outside what he'd seen the night previous. Those thoughts had spurned certain activities of a perhaps less than clean minded nature. As a result, his sleep was charged with the most pleasant of exhilarations.

To his great surprise, however, he awoke fully clothed. Suspicious at first that Aeris had dressed him, a thought which only made him grin all the wider, he looked around for her.

Immediately he spotted her, sleeping, to his left, in the exact same spot she'd been in the night before. She too was fully clothed, much to his disappointment. Still, it seemed to him that the day had started well, if unusually.

Rising to greet the day, Leo noted all the pleasant things around him. Aeris sleeping peacefully nearby, the soil between his toes, the sun bursting though the canopy, the sounds of birds singing in the green that surrounded him…

Leo halted his appreciation, eyes wide. _"…what happened to the ocean?" _He examined his surroundings. _"Aw Crap."_

When Aeris woke up the experience was somewhat less pleasant than it had been for Leo. The content of her dreams had been focused mainly on the material it had been loaded with just before she'd slept. Though her subconscious was evidently fond of the idea of what it had seen, the waking Aeris was not, especially when the first thing she saw was Leo's face as he shook her violently awake.

"Aeris wake up. You've got to see this."

Aeris was far from happy about being woken up, especially being shaken awake. In the humidity of their new habitat Leo would have sworn that he could literally see steam coming off her.

When Aeris spoke each word was said with singular emphasis, biting off each word. "What. Is It. Leo?"

He stepped back and gestured around feebly. "Just… look."

Aeris rubbed her eyes. "Fine fine just gimme a second." After she'd wiped away the sleep from her eyes Aeris looked.

Her jaw dropped.

Leo was quick to capitalize on her shock, "Exactly what I thought! I bet you're glad I woke you up now, right."

Aeris was momentarily at a loss for words. "Mu mu mmmehe?"

Her stupor was short lived and was quickly replaced it with seething rage. "What the fuck happened to the…" she gestured with her hands, looking for the word, "-everything? He changed it already. Why?"

For the first time since they'd crashed onto the beach so long ago, Rekaterin's voice resonated through the jungle.

* * *

><p>"So, how do you like the new arrangement? I trust that you find it pleasing. I invested a great deal of care and consideration in my selection."<p>

Aeris looked up at the tree branches angrily, once again trying to decide how to address that loathsome disembodied voice. "Why did you change it?"

Rekaterin tutted admonishingly, "Oh don't be so cross. I'm sure that you'll love the alterations I've made. There are so many diverting engagements-", his smile could be heard through his voice, "-I'm sure you'll encounter at least one of them." a low chuckle rumbled through the area, "I've even sent in a new friend for you to play with."

Leo Looked at Aeris unhappily. "I don't like how he said that."

Rekaterin spoke again. "The answer your earlier question, my dear, lies in the essence of what you are being used to accomplish." He paused. "What you must understand is that what is being achieved here is the analysis of your ability to survive and adapt. In order to accurately quantify those abilities we must present you with challenges." The smile returned. "I simply didn't think that you were being presented with enough of a challenge."

Seemingly as an afterthought he added, "Oh, and one more thing, I wouldn't recommend any attempts to reach the "edge" of the simulation. I assure you, the results would be… far from pleasant."

With that the voice left them, alone in their new surroundings.

* * *

><p>Leo looked at Aeris. "So now what do we do?"<p>

Aeris was still growling to herself over how much she hated Rekaterin, so she didn't hear Leo's question at first. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Sorry Leo, I didn't catch that, what did you say?"

Leo repeated himself, more meaningfully this time. "I said what should we do now Aeris?"

Aeris pondered Leo's question and for what felt like the millionth time she didn't have an answer. That was beginning to feel like a regular thing. It was becoming increasingly frustrating. Aeris had always had the answers, always known what the next step was, always been sure of herself. But lately, it felt like everything was working against her, she had no control left anymore, and there hadn't been even a moment for her to gain footing.

Surprisingly, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that one of the few things keeping her together was Leo. He was like an incredibly oblivious rock, solid and unchanging, and completely ignorant of anything happening around him.

Aeris dropped her head sideways. That couldn't be. Leo keeping her together, the thought was ridiculous, almost comical. And yet…

Leo waved his hands in front of Aeris's face. "Hellooo? Earth to Aeris, is anybody in there?"

Leo was about to knock on her forehead when he found his hand suddenly stopped, his wrist gripped tightly by Aeris, who looked at him coldly. "Leo. Do you value that hand?'

Leo nodded. "Yes I do."

"Then I would suggest keeping it off my face."

Leo nodded again. "Yep, no hands on face, check."

Aeris relinquished her grip and stood up. "Good."

Leo grimaced while he rubbed the afflicted limb. "So, have you thought of what we're going to do yet?"

Aeris stretched herself, lifting her arms over her head. "Actually yes ", she grunted as she pulled her arms back down, squeezing the lactic acid out of her muscles, "we're going to go and reach "the edge" of this stinking simulation."

Leo looked less than thrilled about Aeris's plan. His eyebrows furrowed as he remembered their last visit to that area. "Aeris, are you sure that's such a good idea? The last time wasn't exactly what I'd call the highlight of my life."

Aeris ignored Leo's protests. "If Rekaterin doesn't want us doing it then that's exactly what we're going to do."

"But-"

"But nothing. Now come on, we need to find water first. We have no idea how big this thing is yet, so we'll be needing it." Having nothing to take with them, Aeris immediately forged her way through the brush, expecting Leo to fall in behind her.

Leo sighed in acceptance, He wasn't getting anywhere without Aeris, so he did as she expected and followed her. While they walked he decided on his final bid. "Fine, but when we die, you are never living it down."

Aeris tried to wrap her head around Leo's particular choice of words. "Just… shut up Leo."

* * *

><p>They'd walked through the jungle for more or less an hour without incident. Leo had initially made attempts at conversation, but a combination of Aeris's unwillingness to participate and the concentration required to actually move through the thick growth caused Leo to give up on the idea.<p>

They'd been more or less crashing through the jungle, making copious amounts of noise shoving branches and leaves and all manner of vegetation aside or crushing it underfoot in their search for water.

It was of course Aeris who realized that they were getting nowhere, so she stopped.

Leo, meanwhile, immediately ran into her standing there, and fell over.

Aeris, who had managed to stay upright, shouted at him on the ground. "Dammit Leo watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, sorry." Picking himself up, Leo asked a question. "Why did you stop?"

Aeris turned around and started scanning the immediate area, which was as far as her vision could reach conditions being what they were. All she could see was more vegetation, the abundant flowers among the most notable. Then there were of course the trees, stretching up above everything to drink up what Aeris knew to be an artificial sunlight.

But in the trees Aeris recognized an opportunity. One that she had taken advantage of not so long ago. Grabbing Leo's shoulder she directed him purposefully to the nearest tree and gave him a single instruction. She pointed at the tree and said one word. "Climb."

Though a little confused by it, Leo climbed, followed closely by Aeris, until he was well above the ground. There he stopped, resting on one of the lowest branches of the tree. Aeris was soon sitting next to him.

Now that there wasn't anything occupying his attention, Leo had the opportunity to ask Aeris something. "Sooo, why did we climb the tree?"

Aeris was swinging her feet back and forth over the empty air beneath them. "Do you remember when we were back on earth and I was running away from the captain of the poacher ship?"

Leo leafed through his memory banks. "Yeah, what about it?"

Aeris lifted her feet to stand up on the branch, walking toward the trunk. "Well when he was chasing me, remember how I told you that I ran through the trees to get away from him."

Understanding slowly trickled into Leo and across his face. "So we climb the trees-"

"-because going through these will be easier than going through the bush down there", Aeris finished, pointing downward with a smile. She patted the tree trunk with mild affection, still looking at Leo. "So now that you get it, let's get going again. I'm sure we'll make way better time like this."

With that they left, climbing and leaping though the trees with minimal effort. Just as Aeris had anticipated, they made significantly better time. In their second hour of travel they had gone several times the distance they had in their first.

Even with the increased mobility and speed they still weren't tireless. After a while Aeris and Leo found themselves in need of some rest. So they found a larger tree with more comfortable branches and lay down across them, close to each other so that Aeris could keep an eye on Leo.

Leo of course, started napping comfortably in the splashes of sunlight that fell down from the leaves above them.

Aeris was less acceptant to the urge to sleep. Something had been bothering her for a little while.

When she'd woken up she too had noticed that she'd been fully clothed. The matter had been dismissed, widely due to the more dangerous presence of Rekaterin. But now that he was gone, or at least, as gone as he could be, she had enough time to brood over it.

It appeared to her that only two possibilities were likely. The first possibility was that Leo who had dressed her in her sleep, which was possible, since he had also been clothed when she woke up.

The second possibility was the more disturbing one. Though Leo dressing was an uncomfortable thought, this one was all together creepy.

Aeris chewed on both cases thoroughly before reaching over next to her and tapping Leo softly. "Leo, wake up a minute, I have to ask you something."

"Mmmamph ner durr… what is it?"

Leo hadn't opened either of his eyes yet.

"I want to ask you something about last night."

One of Leo's eyes cracked opened, just a hair. "… what kind of question?"

Aeris sat back normally on her branch, straddling either side of it with her legs. She looked out at the canopy in front of them. "Well I've been thinking about something and it's been bothering me."

Leo went from being groggy and sluggish to hyper alertness as soon as he realized what Aeris must be talking about. His alarm advertised by his now very wide eyes. Luckily for him, Aeris wasn't looking at him and saw nothing.

Leo's attention now firmly hanging on each word Aeris spoke he heard her as she continued.

Aeris shifted uncomfortably. "I actually have a few questions for you, not just one." She turned to face Leo again, her eyes both dangerous and tentative. "Did you dress me last night?"

Leo stuttered, not sure whether he should be more surprised about what she was asking or what she wasn't. "I… uh… no?"

Aeris looked skeptical. She also looked much scarier all of the sudden.

Leo sat up, much more sure of himself. "No seriously, I was actually going to ask you about that before he-", he pointed up, "- showed up."

Aeris relaxed a fraction. "So you didn't dress me?"

Leo shook his head and his hands. "No. Honest. There was no undressing, I mean, dressing of anyone last night."

Aeris sighed. As stupid as he was, Aeris didn't detect any deceit, and she was normally pretty good with dishonesty. She decided to believe Leo.

Unfortunately, this also meant accepting that the second possibility was now the most probable. "I don't suppose you've given any thought to how either of got dressed since this morning, then have you?

Leo shrugged. "No, I thought that you must have."

Aeris cringed. "Ewww. God dammit Leo, at least make the effort to think a little before you talk." She sighed heavily before continuing. "What I mean is that Rekaterin must have done it."

"I don't get it."

"Augh! Okay look Leo. We weren't dressed when we went to sleep right."

Leo nodded.

"And then we were when we woke up right?"

Leo nodded again.

"So… since neither of us dressed the other, then Rekaterin must have. Which basically means that that sick fucker was _peeping _on us this morning and probably the night before too."

Leo's reaction was what anyone's might have been under the circumstances. Revulsion. He started looking down at his own body, rubbing it furiously as if to scrape of some nasty substance from himself. "Aw now I feel all dirty. Why'd you have go and to think about that Aeris?"

Aeris wasn't much happier than Leo. "It just seemed obvious Leo. It's still fucking nasty though. If you think about it, he could be watching at any given moment. We could be using the bathroom and he'd be watching. Who even knows what he's doing to our actual bodies out there."

Her lips curled in anger. "Who does that anyway, watching people like that all the time?"

Underneath thin his mask of revulsion, Leo had been performing his mental bullet dodging dance, but now he tripped. "Uh yeah, who the hell does that?" He added a small note of outrage at the end to make the ruse more convincing.

His charade aside, something else was nagging at Leo. "Aeris, didn't you said a second ago that he's probably watching us all the time?"

Aeris wasn't following Leo's train of thinking. "Yeah, so?"

Leo pointed up. "Well then doesn't that mean that he could be listening to us talking about him right now?"

Aeris blinked. "… shit."

There was silence an eerie in the trees for a long time. The sound of birds was gone and the wind had gone. Even the sound of the insects had stopped. The moment ended quickly but it had been there. It had definitely been there.

* * *

><p>Several miles from where Leo and Aeris sat in silence, there was a small rustling in the trees.<p>

A shape moved through them, indistinguishable from the rest of what moved overhead.

It moved like a ghost, barely shifting the branches as it moved over them. It stopped. Lifting its head, it sniffed the air. It moved its head in a circle, sniffing.

It snapped in one direction, abruptly. It was unsure of what it smelled, but it was going to go to find out. It glided through the leaves again, headed directly for the two unique scents.

* * *

><p>Shortly after the oppressive silence that had been hanging over them had ended Leo and Aeris shared another moment where they looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. There would be no more talking about Rekaterin.<p>

They left as quickly as they could and were soon far from where they'd been. There was a benefit that arose from all this and that was that while they were moving, they heard the ocean.

Leo and Aeris halted on the branches they were on to listen. In less than a second they had confirmed the sounds origin and were heading for it as fast as their feet would carry them. Navigating through the jungle using the trees had been easier, but they still had very little idea where they were going. The ocean would change that completely. They could just follow the shoreline until they found a river inland where they could get water. From there though, there would have to be some decision making.

But that was a bridge best left uncrossed for now.

It wasn't long before the sound of rolling waves felt so close that it was almost tangible. Minutes later, Leo and Aeris found themselves sitting atop the final tree before falling off into the warm looking sand below.

They both looked out through what little leaves remained and gasped. Admittedly, the view was breathtaking. Crystal blue water rolled onto an inviting beach of white sand. Gulls pelicans, albatross, and other water fowl could be seen fishing over the water, diving down to snatch at the fish.

The only things keeping Leo and Aeris from complete belief of the realism of this place were the animals that could be seen fishing that Leo and Aeris had never seen before. Bizarre and beautiful creatures of all different shapes and color were engaged in an elaborate aerial dance overhead. A rainbow of life spread through the air like moving paint on canvas, flowing in congress with the wind to create a marvel (pageant?) of living color.

From inside the last tree, Leo was the first to take a breath and speak. "Hey Aeris I have an idea."

Aeris looked away from the birds and other animals. If Leo was getting ideas it could only mean trouble for her, "Oh god, what is it this time?"

Leo smiled happily, "Let's go swimming!"

Aeris rolled her eyes and starting climbing down the tree. "And why would we do that Leo? We only just got our cloths dried last night, besides, this looks too… nice, to be anything good. I don't like it."

Leo was undeterred and followed her down. "Aww, come on Aeris. It was your idea to go to the edge anyway. Maybe we could swim there!"

Aeris reached the bottom of the tree. "Leo Look out there, we can't even see the oceans ending. We could swim for days and get nowhere. Besides… I'm still not exactly ecstatic about the idea of getting in the water."

Leo reached bottom and squinted through the sunlight at the water. "Ah, you're just being a party pooper, as usual." He smiled and shrugged indifferently, "But who cares, more fun for me anyway."

Leo immediately strode confidently into the surf, tossing of his clothes on the way until he was wearing nothing but his underwear.

Aeris rolled her eyes and sat down in the shade of the tree, lounging against the trunk as if it were a beach chair.

Leo meanwhile had waded into the water and was just now reaching the pointed were the waves crested lightly before losing shape and washing up on the shore. Before going any further Leo turned around a waved enthusiastically at Aeris.

Aeris smiled sarcastically and waved back, nodding.

Leo turned back towards the waves just in time to get face full of sea water as an especially large swell caught him and sent him tumbling off his feet. He came back up decidedly unhappy and was the unhappy recipient of yet another face full of sea water.

When Leo came up the third time, he had the whit to face away from the oncoming waves. Despite this, when the next one came, it lifted Leo of his feet and tossed him face first back onto the beach.

This was the moment Aeris decided to say something. She lifted her chin and smiled at the waterlogged Leo, "So…. Are we having fun yet?"

Leo grunted in response and stood up, facing the waves again with a glare. Rolling up imaginary sleeves, Leo marched back into the water, determined not to be made into a fool by a force as inferior as some tiny waves.

When the next wave rose from the water to greet him, Leo jumped in the water as was carried not into the sand but instead up to the crest of wave and over it. By repeating this process over and over Leo eventually found himself past the point where the waves could toss him. He also found that the water was now too deep to stand in and was forced to tread.

Pumping his fist triumphantly in the air he turned back to the beach and stuck his tongue out at Aeris, who ignored him completely.

Satisfied that he'd shown both the waves and Aeris what for, Leo relaxed and began swimming lazily through the water. It seemed like the best thing to do until Aeris submitted and acknowledged the merit of his plan.

As it happened, Aeris was trying to come up with her own plan. One that would decide what method she would use to extract Leo with the least possible effort. That was until she noticed something rising out of the water that just might do it for her.

She reached her hand up and shouted across the water, "Hey Leo!"

Leo's head popped up and his voice came back to her musically. "What is it?"

Aeris lifted a finger and pointed behind him.

Leo arched an eyebrow and turned around.

His ears plastered themselves to the back of his head and his jaw dropped. In front of him was a wall of water that had just decided to blot out the sun. He looked up just in time to watch in full technicolor as it decided that it was time to move a certain grey feline. "… aww cra-"

He never got to finish the phrase. Instead he was picked up by the wave and launched like a baseball out of the water and into the jungle.

Amidst the havoc Aeris could discern a distinct voice as Leo flew in a mass of flailing limbs overhead. Prior to this moment Aeris had not been aware that Leo's vocabulary was quite so broad in the scope of profanity.

Moments later, after much crashing of undergrowth, Leo emerged stiffly out of the jungle muttering to himself. He stomped out onto the sand and continued to stomp until he had gathered his clothes and was back in front of Aeris. Dripping wet and bruised all over Leo said only two sentences, "We are leaving now. This beach is not fun."

Aeris closed her eyes and smiled her most cheerful smile. "Thought so."

While they walked along the sand Aeris mused to herself, _"And here I thought the beach wasn't going to be any fun."_

* * *

><p>"What kind of a wave was that anyway? It picked me up and threw me <em>over<em> the trees, which was cool, but… how?"

Leo had begun ranting about thirty minutes into the walk.

Aeris was only half listening. "Rekaterin did say that it was a bad idea to reach the edge. Maybe that was another subtle hint." The second sentence was laden with sarcasm.

"Whatever", Leo grunted. He looked around, "ehh, where the heck are we anyway?"

Though Leo had only just noticed the change in scenery, Aeris had been thinking it over for quite a while. From the moment they'd left the site of Leo's little wave incident, the sand was slowly replaced by soft green grass.

What had been sand turned to soil, an incline developed, increasing gradually until Aeris realized that they were walking, not on a beach, but on a rocky path surrounded by grass leading up the side of a cliff.

For his part, Leo had been too engrossed with his monologue to notice.

Rather than simply answering Leo's question, Aeris instead offered one of her own, "Were does it look like, Leo?"

Leo looked around some more. "It looks like a cliff to me."

Aeris made a circling motion with her right hand. "And therefore it must be…."

Leo pondered, "… a cliff?"

Aeris applauded. "Excellent use of Occam's razor Leo. You win the prize."

Leo stiffened and adopted an aloof pose. Eyes closed, chin in the air, and in the most aloof voice he could muster, Leo sniffed, "We could do without the sarcasm, thank you."

Aeris rolled her eyes and continued walking. "I'm sure you could."

One more thing was bothering Leo. He rubbed his chin philosophically, and with great wisdom, Leo asked the most penetrating of questions, "… ahh, Occam's razor is what now?"

Aeris didn't break stride. "The simplest explanation is the often the most likely to be correct."

Leo resumed following Aeris, "Oh…"

For a while they walked in silence and no further attempts at conversation were made. This gave the pair ample opportunity to take in the change in scenery that Leo had so astutely designated as a cliff.

But it wasn't until they reached the very top of the path that Aeris and Leo were able to fully grasp the depth and scale of their surroundings.

Though the beach was gone, they still found themselves bordered on their right by the jungle, as if it had followed them up of its own accord.

Beneath them on the left there was nothing. A sheer drop ended in jagged rocks and crashing waves like the waiting jaws of a hungry animal, baited by the sight of fresh meat above.

It wasn't inviting.

So rather than stay to think on it further, they continued to walk. Further and further they went, but at some point the landscape changed again, this time much more suddenly.

In place of their path, a massive rift cleaved its way inland. It looked unnatural somehow, not a formation of nature but a wound, ripped out and replaced with a jagged scar.

The other side could be seen, but only just. A fog had rolled in some time ago, and it now obscured any view of the land opposite them. The sky too, had long since blackened to the color of ash. The overall feeling that came from looking around now became one of dread and Aeris became anxious to move on.

She scanned the other side of the crevasse and exhaled heavily, then looked distrustfully at the sky, as if it were hiding something from her. "…come on Leo, I don't like sitting here." She shifted her eyes behind her towards Leo before drawing them back at the sky, "It's creepy. I'm starting to feel like he's hinting at something and I don't like it."

"Yeah, yeah let's go. This is giving me the creeps too."

"Come on," Aeris pointed off to their right, along the edge of the crevasse, "If we go this way we might find a waterfall or something. Even if we don't we still have to stay as near to the coast as we can."

"Alright, lead on fearless leader."

Aeris turned on her heal to stare at Leo, "Why do you keep calling me that? You never used to."

Leo smirked, "Because it annoys you," his grin widened and he leaned forward, looking up at Aeris with his head turned sideways, "and because you've been leading us fearlessly."

Aeris blinked at Leo before folding her arms and turning around grumbling, "I have not. I've just been keeping us alive, that's all."

Leo circled around to her side. "Eyup, so fearless leader it is.", Leo pointed down their new direction and playfully hit Aeris's shoulder, "now come on, we won't get anywhere by talking around here."

With that Leo set off along the side of the crevasse, which was much more densely overgrown than their little path had been.

Aeris stood still watched him leave then looked down quizzically at the shoulder Leo's hand had rested on a moment ago.

It wasn't until he was out of earshot that Aeris whispered to herself, "… I'm not fearless."

* * *

><p>So they walked. An hour went by and nothing was said. The brushwas ever so slightly thinner towards the edge where Leo and Aeris walked, but the fact was little appreciated. Outside of occasional clearings, they could rarely see more than ten feet ahead of them at any given moment.<p>

They would have gone into the trees again, but they knew that it would be all too easy to lose themselves in the labyrinth of green, so on the edge they stayed.

In their silence, they were kept company by an ever growing dread. In the absence of thought unbidden questions intruded their minds, imaginings of what Rekaterin was planning for them, what horrible thing he could have waiting for them. In some instinctive part of their minds, they recognized an eminent danger. They felt it, felt it was coming for them, it set them on edge.

But after a while, they began to ignore it, dismissing the thoughts as undesired paranoia. Neither spoke up about it so the thought was lost and they resumed walking. But the nerves remained; neither fully accepting that all was well.

But it wasn't until they had passed a smaller clearing, barely thirty feet across, that Aeris noticed something genuinely strange. In desperation to relive her boredom, she'd turned around to strike up a conversation with Leo. If nothing else, Leo was always a good distraction. But there was one problem. Leo wasn't there.

Aeris searched behind her and called for him, concern rising unbidden in her voice. "Leo? Leo where are you?"

Ideas of what could have befallen Leo flared up in Aeris mind. She'd lost him, he could be anywhere. At first she thought that he'd wandered off into the jungle and gotten lost, and then another idea rose from her thoughts, a much _much _worse idea.

Rekaterin could have done something to him. He could've tortured him, made the earth swallow him, or he could've simply taken him away, leaving her alone.

But as she backtracked searching for him, Aeris glimpsed a spot of grey through the leaves, back in the small clearing she'd left only moments ago.

"Leo, you scared the shit out of me!" she looked at him more closely, "What are you even doing over here?"

At first it seemed as though Leo hadn't heard her. He seemed distracted. He was staring down, standing at the precipice of the chasm, as if there was an answer he was looking for could somehow be found there.

Aeris approached Leo warily, shifting the last layer of brush out of the way so she could see him more clearly.

When Leo was acting strange, it set her on edge, but now it was especially unsettling.

She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something going wrong inside Leo's mind, something very wrong. There was something about the way he was standing, the way he was looking down into the dark below him. "Leo? What's wrong with you, you seem out of it?"

Leo looked up finally. "Hmm?"

"I said that you look out of it. What's wrong with you?" Aeris was standing next to him now, looking directly at him.

Leo's eyes drifted back into the rift, "It's nothing, I was just thinking…"

Aeris was getting seriously worried again. This was unlike him. He sounded so serious, and distant. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him angrily, "I know that you're thinking Leo. I'm asking what you're thinking about. Now cut it out, you look like you're going crazy." She finished by shoving Leo away from the edge, it made her feel better.

When he regained his balance, Leo straitened himself. He looked the same, staring emptily past Aeris into the dark.

"Well I had a thought."

Aeris lost patience, and her temper, "Well what is it?"

Leo walked back towards her, "Well it's just…. I was thinking, Rekaterin said that we can die right?"

Leo's meaning eluded Aeris, "Yeah… so?"

Leo was back near the edge now, "Well I was just thinking that if we wanted to-", he looked at Aeris, "-and I mean really wanted to, we could just…" he gestured down, "end it."

Aeris looked at Leo, and at his hands, and where they were pointing, then back at Leo, and in her mind she traced what she knew and understood he meant and she snapped.

He'd said it so… normally, conversationally, like he was suggesting they go and buy some trinket and was asking why they shouldn't do it.

What he'd said was ridiculous, possibly the most inescapably illogical thing he'd ever said. It went against every instinct, every need, everything that made any kind of sense. It was so bizarre that the only response she could think of in that moment was to slap him.

So she did. And after she said to him, "Leo that's the dumbest thing you've ever said!"

But as quickly as her anger had flared, it diminished even faster. While Leo rubbed his face, she grabbed him by both shoulders and shook him. "Listen carefully. We are not now, nor are we ever, going to commit suicide. There is no way on earth or heaven that we are ever ever _ever_ going to do that. We are going to get out of here, we are _going_ to escape, and when we do everything will be entirely back to normal and we'll all live happily ever after, got it?"

Leo had been staring at his looking at the ground the entire time Aeris had been shaking him, but he looked up now, and to Aeris's surprise, he was smiling warmly.

His next words sounded normal, no longer the distant empty sound that had been coming from him before. "Alright Aeris, you're right, we're going to be fine."

Aeris smiled back let out a long held sigh, dropping her head to look at the ground in relief, "Thank god. You really had me worried there for a second Leo. What the hell was up with that?"

Leo turned to face the other side of the chasm and sat down, letting his legs dangle comfortably over the empty space, swinging them playfully. "I don't really know. I didn't feel like myself."

Aeris lifted an eyebrow quizzically, that hardly made sense, what could have come over Leo to start him thinking of suicide? "Why?"

Leo shrugged, it was clear that it didn't make that much sense to him either, "I dunno. But it was weird, I didn't even –"

From behind them Leo and Aeris heard a massive crack and jolt shot up their spines as the shelf they sat split in a cloud of dust behind them.

It tilted downward as Leo and Aries looked at each other and scrambled for something to grab, anything that they could pull themselves up with. But it was no use, as they clambered for the tall grass they were dragged down into the dark, the grass tearing helplessly away from the earth.

Sheer terror filled them; in some primitive part of themselves they remembered this feeling, and what had followed. Fragments of rock fell down on them in rivulets from above as they tumbled into the dark.

When the last of the dust settled into the still grass, there was nothing left but the echo of their desperate screams.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter took a ridiculously long time to write. It is the longest chapter I've ever given you so far, but that's no excuse. I am sincerely sorry regarding the wait that all of you suffered for this. **

**That said, I think that this chapter was worth it. additionally the wait gave me an opportunity for several strokes of brilliant inspiration, which means that I know exactly where I'm going now and that with any luck the next chapter won't take almost month. (I am still _very_ sorry about that.)**

**I put a lot of work into this chapter and I would like to think it shows, so I hope that you all thought that it was worth it. **

**(I also hope that and you choose to express that feeling in the form of a review! *thumbs up* It doesn't even have to be positive, just leave one you.)  
><strong>

**With great affection and guilt  
><strong>

**-Deep sea Anchor  
><strong>


	14. Chapter Fourteen: The End

**Chapter Fourteen: The End  
><strong>

* * *

><p>For an eternity they fell. Their screams reduced to soft whimpers as tears rolled off their faces into the howling winds.<p>

At some point during the fall Leo and Aeris had managed to find each other in the dark. In that moment they held one other, determined never to relinquish the last warm thing that they would ever experience.

Until the end they each tried to think of what to say before they died, but neither could. So they held one another, claws gripped tightly to the cloths on each other's backs as they wept, conveying every ounce of feeling they could through the warmth of their embrace.

Then the ending came…

But there was no impact.

Instead of the feeling of bones shattering or organs being crushed there was just the feeling of the floor beneath them. It was as if they had never been falling and had inexplicably found themselves laying down for some reason, except now they were at the bottom of a very dark and very evil looking chasm, clasped to one other in an unbreakable grip.

Unbreakable until they realized that they were alive and then realized who they were holding on to. Immediately they broke off from one another scrambling away in embarrassment.

Leo of course, found the word for what happened first, voice hoarse from the screaming he croaked as he caught his breath, "Well that was… fun."

* * *

><p>Far above where Leo and Aeris sat appreciating the fact that weren't dead, a new presence emerged from the jungle, leaping down from the trees to taste at the air on the warm grass.<p>

Crawling around in the earth, it followed an irregular pattern. It was following something.

When it reached the edge it sniffed at it, tasted it.

It had found what it was looking for. With one yellow eye it stared down into the dark below, making a precise decision.

It fixated itself on a certain point down across to the other side of the rift.

Decision made it trotted several paces back from the edge. Preparation made, it took a running start and with a final spring from its sinewy legs, the creature launched itself through the air. Limbs spread wide as it sailed across the chasm until it reached the spot it had chosen on the other side. Claws caught on stone and it slid down until enough resistance built to keep it in place.

From its position, the monster chose a new spot on the opposite cliff face and did as it had before. In this way it went down, leaping over and over again across each side. It was only a matter of time. Below it could smell its prey, waiting patiently for it. The wait would not be long.

Ever further down it went, ever closer to the bottom.

* * *

><p>Below, Leo and Aeris were gathering themselves from their ordeal once again. Thankfully, they'd been spared the physical exhaustion that Rekaterin had forced on them the last time he had decided to teach them something.<p>

But when Aeris picked herself off from the ground she did not feel relieved to be alive nor was she relived to have escaped physical pain. Rather, she was furious, furious at Rekaterin for once again attacking her and Leo.

She had had enough. Against all her better judgment, she was going to scream her defiance at the top of her lungs to the crack of sky she could still see above.

But she never got the chance.

From all around them, Rekaterin's voice radiated through the base of the chasm in a quiet, slow, and menacingly intense growl, "You are both phenomenally stupid. Do you know that? What did you think would happen if you jumped? That you would somehow escape?"

For the first time Rekaterin materialized in front of them,** "**There is no escape. You have no control. Even your moment of death is entirely up to me. Like the two of you, death is my puppet, and just like you, I can toy with it as much as I like."

A second passed and his voice returned to normal, distantly calm and nearly empty of feeling. "Now, I would politely suggest that you return to what you were doing before your little… detour. I may have generously spared you both from immediate death, but you are still very much endangered by pain, starvation, and as you most wisely realized, thirst."

There was a break in Rekaterin's brief speech. To Aeris it seemed that he'd been distracted by something, if only momentarily, but then he smiled evilly at them. "Actually… I would revise that suggestion if I were you…" He rubbed his chin, "Well, honestly, I don't think it really matters anymore at this point."

Rekaterin chuckled and lifted his hands in a shrug, "Oh well, I'm sure that you'll both handle it wonderfully." He rubbed his hands together then pointed at the two cats in front of him in turn the grin still marking his face, "I'm sure I'll see you again soon… have fun." Then his image vanished to the sound of him once again bursting into hysterical laughter.

So Leo and Aeris were left again with Rekaterin's cruel laughter echoing off the walls of the chasm, mocking them.

When the last echo died, a small shower of rocks and dust fell near Leo, "Sooo… what do you think he meant by that?"

Another shower of rocks and dust fell just shy of Aeris, who stood opposite to Leo near the other wall. "How should I know?" She closed her eyes and scratched the side of her head in thought, grumbling, "I hate how he keeps teasing us with these cryptic comments… what do you think he meant?"

Leo shrugged, and looked inquisitively upwards to see where the newest shower of dust had come from. "I dunno, it seems silly to me. How am I supposed to remember anything anyway, it's been way too weird to think."

"Please, you don't think no matter what we're doing."

Leo feigned offense, "Well why don't you tell me what he meant then, Captain know it all?"

"I don't know what he meant any more than y- Gah!" this time the stream of dust had fallen directly onto Aeris's head, showering her on rocky debris. She stomped her foot in aggravation, "the fuck is making these rocks come down? I can't think with dust up my freaking nose."

Leo smirked, "But I though girls liked thinking in the shower."

"Shut up Leo, that's got nothing to do with anything."

She tramped away from her old spot to stand next to Leo, only to be the victim of another dust cloud, to which Leo snickered.

Aeris shot Leo a murderous glare.

Angrily dusting off her head with both hands, practically smacking her hair, Aeris growled at nobody in particular, "What. The fuck. Is up with this shit? This is really starting to piss me o-"

Aeris was interrupted. Were she'd been standing a moment ago near the other wall something fell, obscured by a pillar of dust that had followed it down.

From out of the murky cloud emerged the thing that had been hunting both Leo and Aeris since that same morning.

While Aeris and Leo immediately began backing up slowly Aeris could be heard muttering very quietly, "Fuck fuck _fuck, _so _that's_ what the asshole meant."

Tightlipped, Leo whispered to his partner, "Uh, Aeris, what is that?"

Equally tightlipped, Aeris hushed him, "Quite Leo, I don't know. Just stay calm a second."

"Well I'm whispering aren't I?"

Aeris raised her voice ever so slightly, "I said shut up Leo! Just gimme a second to think."

They had both unconsciously begun stepping backwards slowly as the creature stalked forward after them.

Aeris was analyzing the situation at breakneck speed. By the time they hit the wall she had decided on the only possible course of action. "Leo, when I say, we are going to run, alright?"

Leo Nodded, eyes still glued to the creature. "You got it."

Aeris had watched the creature carefully and had recognized its body language. There was no doubt in her mind that this 'thing' that had found them was not friendly. It moved the same way any predator moves before feeding.

So she waited.

It had centered its attention on her and she was standing to the left of Leo. She had a plan in mind, but it would require perfect timing and a mountain of luck. She just hoped she could borrow a page out of Leo's book in that regard.

The creature stopped.

"Leo get ready."

Leo braced his legs. "Ready."

Aeris watched almost in slow motion and the creatures hind legs tightened and it went it for a lunching pounce, claws outstretched to tear at anything vulnerable.

Before it reached her, Aeris dove to the side and came back up onto her feet in a roll, shouting for Leo to go.

But he was one step ahead of her. The moment the creature had pounced, Leo had made a run for it, coming up right next to her when she began running.

They were going in an all out sprint, but Leo still managed to ask, "So what's the plan?"

Aeris yelled back, "We run!"

* * *

><p>And run they did; the creature never far behind. Many times it nearly caught one, or both, of them. But they would always just barely escape.<p>

If they had stopped to think about it, they would have realized that they weren't being chased, they were being played with. The creature was enjoying tormenting its food before its meal.

But Leo and Aeris didn't stop, not until they were forced to. With the creature still hot on their heels they ran into a thirty foot shelf of rock towered over them.

Trapped between the shelf and the creature, Leo and Aeris turned to see it crawl slowly over a rock a little behind them. Though they could see no mouth on its face, either one of them could have sworn that it would have been smiling.

They looked around desperately for a way to get out.

All that they saw was a pathetic branch that must have dropped from one of the trees eons ago.

It wasn't much but it was all they had. They clamored over to it and, clutching at their measly weapon, prepared themselves for death.

Though terrified and sure that he was about to die, Leo was his own idiotic self to the bitter end. His voice shaking with fear and laughter he said to Aeris, "Who would have thought that we would die in a video game huh?"

Aeris, who had been angrily gritting her teeth in preparation for her last battle, was knocked mentally off balance for a moment as Leo's comment sank through.

She was actually surprised enough that she bothered to turn her head all the way towards Leo and blink at him. Her mind struggled to derive the appropriate response. "I…. you… Oh for god's sake Leo, you're hopeless."

As soon as those last words escaped her lips, Aeris and Leo heard a screech come from the rocks were they'd last seen the creature.

By the time they looked back it was practically on top of them.

All that they had time to do was close their eyes and cringe before impact.

Then… death.

* * *

><p>It went for Aeris first.<p>

It impacted directly on her chest and sent her sprawling onto her back on the stone floor.

With one set of claws it went immediately for her throat, opening a grizzly wound that poured blood like water from a fountain.

Before it could do anything further a scream of desperation was heard and the creature was thrown off of Aeris by the thick end of the branch that Leo now held above his head ferociously.

Momentarily stunned, the creature wobbled ever so slightly when it stood back up.

For a moment, Leo believed that he could manage this on his own.

But the moment was short lived. Before he could react the creature had launched itself back at him, knocking Leo to the ground much as it had Aeris.

Taking up his head in its claws, the creature slammed his skull against the stone for almost a minute before letting up.

Before it left him, up and pacing slowly back towards Aeris, it positioned his head so that he was looking.

From the ground Leo watched, slipping in and out of consciousness, as Aeris was choking to death on the blood surging out of the gaping rent in her throat. And he watched as the creature rested itself back on top of Aeris.

Finally, he watched the monster look back at him and begin tearing Aeris apart.

It began with the chest, opening Aeris up like some sickening bag of meat.

She would have screamed, but what came out instead was nothing but a gurgling sound followed by more choking. She tried to lift her arms, but the effort as wasted. She couldn't even lift a finger.

The sickening sound of flesh being torn out from Aeris's insides tore through Leo's mind like the screeching of metal claws against a chalk board, ripping his sanity to shreds.

Soon it was not Aeris, but Leo who was screaming. He tried to rush to Aeris's side and beat back the _thing_ that was _eating _her. But the moment he lifted his head he was overwhelmed with mind numbing pain and very nearly black out again.

But he refused to give up. As he watched Aeris's body staring blankly at him, tears rolling down her eyes from the unimaginable pain she must have been feeling, he tried several more times to rise. And each time he failed.

Gradually Aeris ceased to move. She didn't even twitch, and the light went out of her eyes for the last time.

When the creature noticed this, its entire body lathered in her blood, it crawled out of her stomach and made its way to Leo.

When it sat in front of him, golden eyes staring right at his face, it reached out with blood soaked talons and grabbed his face, lifting Leo's upper half from the ground and pulling it into its own.

Then it's switched its grip and circled it's vice like grip around his throat.

For a moment they stared at each other. Leo's eyes streaming with tears, the monsters cold, unfeeling and empty.

With his last breath Leo managed to growl with more hate than he'd ever known he could have, "WELL! FINISH IT YOU FUCK FACED CUNT!"

So the creature ripped out his throat, reached into it, and twisted Leo's neck in half.

In that moment only one sound was heard in between the towering walls of earth as Leo and Aeris lay dead, mangled and destroyed, on opposite sides of one another.

Laughing.

Rekaterin laughing hysterically to himself.

* * *

><p>Time slowed; the creature stopped, frozen mid-bite, and then vanished from on top of Leo.<p>

In its place there was only the sound of Rekaterin's dying laughter.

From further down the chasm, the wind swept up through the cavernous hall, sweeping up dust and earth in what was practically a wave of sand along with it.

The two mutilated bodies rested on the cold floor unmoving as the last of Rekaterin's muted chuckles echoed from the walls and the sand began to bury them.

With time, the sands passed. Silence followed.

The floor of the trench now covered in a uniform layer of sand, all memory of the two people who'd died there erased beneath it. Not even lumps of raised sand served to mark the spots where their bodies lay.

A hand burst out from under the sand, and another. From under Leo clawed his way to the surface and emerged from the sand in a violent scramble.

He searched himself frantically, feeling his neck in the spot he was absolutely certain there had been a gaping hole and found himself entirely whole. "-The hell?

He looked up. "I'm alive?" he leapt onto his feet, "Haha, I'm alive!" He turned to where Aeris should have been, if his memory served. "Hey Aeris I'm- I'm… Aeris? "

At that moment Leo noticed that he was alone. Aeris had not risen to join him.

It was here that panic set in. "Aeris? Aeris were are you?"

For a moment Leo ran aimlessly in a circle looking for Aeris in the featureless chasm until he realized the only place left for her to be.

Immediately he rushed over to the spot where he'd seen Aeris die and began digging for all he was worth.

Even to him it seemed clear that if he had been revived, somehow, then Aeris must have been too. But if that was the case, then she was suffocating at that very moment and he was her only hope.

Leo refused to accept the idea that he and Aeris had been granted their lives back, only to lose Aeris again. No, he would never accept that.

Finally, he saw strands the first strands of pink beneath his fingers.

Leo redoubled his efforts, tossing away the sand at a feverish pace. Finally, he reached down into the sand and lifted up a limp and blood spattered Aeris.

But… she wasn't any different than when he'd seen her last, torn open by that _thing_ that had been chasing them.

Surely it was a trick his eyes were playing on him, so Leo tried to shake Aeris awake. "Aeris?"

She said nothing.

He shook her harder and her body swayed lifelessly with his, movements. Leo screamed in her ears, "Aeris wake up!"

But it was no use; she had not healed as Leo had. She was dead.

But Leo had not yet given up. Examining every inch of her he felt for a pulse, a flutter, any indication that the spark of life hadn't left her entirely. But his efforts were wasted; he found nothing, and seeing the wounds more closely only sealed off any hope of denying the inescapable reality.

Aeris was gone.

* * *

><p>With that realization Leo's spirit was crushed. He let Aeris's body slip limply from his grip onto the ground and wept silently, tears welling up behind closed eyes before streaming down the sides of his face.<p>

But while Leo grieved for his friend and for his loss, he was interrupted by a hand placed on his shoulder.

Leo snarled and turned savagely to see a confused looking Aeris standing behind him, a question in her eyes.

"Leo? W-"

In that instant Leo's snarl was practically bitch slapped off his face and his spirit was restored.

"AERIS!" Leo exclaimed with more joy than he had ever known was possible as he barreled into Aeris, knocking her to the ground and seizing her in the tightest hug he could give.

Immediately he released her and beset her entire face with kisses. Between each bout of kisses words would escape his lips. "You're alive! – I thought you were dead! – How did you get back? "

From beneath him, Aeris tried to speak between Leo's incessant questions and even more incessant displays of affection. "Leo – Leo hold on a – Leo, I said – LEO! STOP IT A SECOND!"

Blushing furiously, Aeris pushed a gleefully complacent Leo off of herself. "If you'll just give me a second I'll tell you."

With bated breath Leo eagerly awaited Aeris's explanation.

Aeris brushed herself off and looked at him, rolling her eyes. "Okay. I don't exactly know how I'm back-"

"- well, it would appear that an explanation is in order then."

Leo choked. The phrase had come out of him, but it hadn't been his voice.

Aeris ultimately failed to find the words to vocalize her distress at this, almost.

"Asshole!" Aeris raged. "You fucking asshole! The fuck was that about?"

For what felt like the millionth time Rekaterin's laughter grated against the inside of Aeris's skull, offending every cell devoted to the function.

Leo's voice joined the other two echoing haphazardly through the hall of rock and earth. "Just what is so funny up there? We died! This conversation shouldn't even be happening!"

Surprisingly, the two voices gleaned a response. The laughter was suppressed to smug snickering. "You are. The both of you." Another burst of laughter. Through what sounded like gasps the two formerly terrified cats heard Rekaterin regain control over himself. "That must have been the singularly most priceless sequence of moments I have ever created."

His voice suddenly became serious. "Alright, bring them out."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter has been a long time coming. This time though, I think I gave you even fewer answers than last time and even more questions. I'm just evil aren't I.  
><strong>

**But in my own way I love you all, which is why I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I already know exactly where I'm going now and have already started to work on it. So, see you next time.  
><strong>


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Knives

**Chapter Fifteen: Knives**

* * *

><p>The moment that Leo and Aeris heard Rekaterin speak those five syllables their vision was overwhelmed by a blindingly intense white light searing through their eyelids.<p>

Then they heard a voice, "Turn that off you idiot, if they aren't in the simulator then there's no need for it", it was Rekaterin's.

The light went away and Aeris felt her vision slowly returning to normal.

With the light gone Aeris noticed that her skin was immersed in something thick and slimy.

She snapped her eyes open, but still could not see.

So instead she tried to move around and at least feel more of what she was encased in. But to her despair she found that no matter how much she struggled to move she couldn't. As much as she strained her muscles, flexing and tightening them over and over again, something prevented her from actually moving her arms and legs.

Her first thought was that she'd been paralyzed somehow. But that made no sense if she could still feel and even flex her muscles. In fact she found that she could still move her hands, head, and even her feet completely normally which made even less sense.

It sent her spiraling beyond confusion into deep distress.

Though she could not see him, next to her, Leo was going through the same thing. Except his eyes had adjusted faster to the light so when he opened his eyes and his vision came into focus he found himself hanging suspended in a glass tube filled with a viscous florescent green liquid.

He also saw that his vision was obstructed by a mask connected to a breathing apparatus. He could feel it covering his entire head, even covering his ears, sealing it off from the strange fluid.

At last Aeris's eyes also came into focus, but upon seeing herself she gasped audibly.

Just as Leo was, she was enclosed within a glass tube filled with the same bizarre liquid, and she was entirely naked! Worse than that, there were tubes protruding from all over her body including catheters running into places she had previously hoped never to see tubes running out of. She saw that Leo was the same, but looked away quickly when she noticed that he too was naked.

She repressed the urge to both scream and vomit at the sight of them both and of all the tubes.

From speakers that she could only guess were built into the mask that she also wore, she heard Rekaterin say somewhat irritably, "Alright, now if you are quite finished trying to permanently blind my subjects, you may begin disengaging them…", as an afterthought, "and be sure that you don't do anything that might damage them this time… idiots."

He'd muttered that last part, perhaps inaudibly to those the comment had been directed at, but not to Aeris.

As soon as Rekaterin spoke there was a flurry of activity. The assistant Rekaterin had spoken to the first time was not the only one present. A team of persons, all dressed in what looked like full body hazmat suits, began working furiously at the panels of equipment Aeris and Leo saw adorning the walls.

Moments later the fluorescent green liquid that Leo and Aeris were suspended in began to drain gradually down from their tubes.

When enough of it had gone to leave Leo and Aeris in need of their limbs to remain upright, as if of their own accord, their legs positioned themselves so as to remain standing.

And when the tube was completely empty, the cylinder of glass itself began to sink into the ground as well.

Once it had fully receded into the floor, four of the rubbery aids descended on Leo and Aeris, two for each victim, and began removing the tubes, some of them rather painfully.

Aeris tried to speak, but the breathing apparatus attached to her mouth prevented her from doing so. So instead she began making unintelligible sounds beneath the device until Rekaterin noticed and gestured towards one of the many assistants that were now standing around uselessly awaiting further instructions.

"Well come on, take it off. Clearly Miss Aeris has something to say."

The assistant did as Rekaterin bade him.

As soon as her mouth was free Aeris shouted at Rekaterin, "You disgusting fuck, this is revolting."

Rekaterin's gaze went stormy for a moment before twisting into a perverse smile as he looked her over. "I agree, it is rather unpleasant, for you at any rate." He placed his hand against his chest in mock humility. "But I am afraid that Icannot take credit for your discomfort _this_ time"

He chuckled and gestured at the assistant that he'd chastised earlier. "You see, there is a sort of halfway point in the simulation, where you remain unconscious but we-", he waved his hand along the room, "-control nothing." He looked back at Aeris, "We could have very easily housed you there for this part of the procedure and your mind would have been free to wander. But-", he lifted a finger, "-this idiot removed you from the program entirely." He shrugged nonchalantly, At this point returning you would be a waste of effort. Reinsertion would take several hours."

"That is not what I meant fuckhead. I meant why are naked and why can't I _move_?"

Rekaterin smiled, "For two reasons, the first is that if I were to allow you move this procedure-", he motioned at the assistants removing the tubes,"-would be made significantly more difficult. As you so astutely noticed, parts of your body are not responding to your commands. This is because we have fused nanobots to your brain stems." He tapped the back of his head. "They are currently blocking certain electrical signals from your brain. In essence, they are stealing the messages that your mind sends your body and replacing them with _my_ orders."

His smile turned a shade more cruel and he walked over to her, slowly, "The second reason is much less medical. It's because I enjoy your discomfort, I find it funny-", when he was about a foot away he stopped and withdrew from his pocket a small scalpel and brandished it almost playfully, "-but do you know what I find even more amusing?"

At the sight of the scalpel, Aeris's heart beat accelerated rapidly in her chest, but defiant as ever, she answered, "What?"

Rekaterin placed his hand on her shoulder and moved the other hand with the scalpel up to her, tracing delicate lines across her skin with the tip as he watched her eyes. "I like your fear."

Up until now Leo had been sitting quietly and listening, but Rekaterin had stepped beyond the point where Leo could sit quietly. Enraged at the thought that Rekaterin would dare repeat what had transpired before, Leo's voice rose in fury, "Get away from her you sick fuck!"

Rekaterin froze.

His voice barely escaped his lips. "What was that?"

Leo raised his voice even further, "You heard me you pathetic little psychopath! You get your hands off of her!"

Rekaterin straightened himself in front of Aeris and looked directly at Leo. "I would mind my tone, if I were you."

Leo scoffed, "Please, you've killed me once already, what more can you do?"

Rekaterin stood silent for a moment, unmoving, and then he walked, slowly, until he was standing in front of Leo, looking at him.

He stared at him, then he turned his head back, never taking his eyes off Leo, and gave a single order to his aids, "Hold his head."

Numerous movements were made, "His head is locked sir."

Rekaterin stepped forward and reached slowly behind Leo's head. Then he seized the back of his hair with his left and hand and violently yanked Leo's head backwards, causing Leo to wince at the pain. Almost in a whisper, Rekaterin hissed into Leo's ear, "You brainless little fool, have you forgotten already what it was like?" He yanked harder. "Don't you remember how you felt when I took her from you, only moments ago?" He lifted the scalpel up to Leo's face, just under his right eye. "I think that I'll have to leave you something. Something so that you won't forget what I can take from you, what do you think of that?"

Leo didn't get a chance to answer, because as soon as the last word fell from Rekaterin's lips he drove the point of the scalpel into Leo's face and dragged it hard down and across, cutting into flesh and even bone until he'd gone past the jawline, whipping it away at the end of the stroke, leaving a horribly deep scar ravaging it's way down an the entire side of Leo's face.

Through waves of pain Leo muttered a very overt "fuck you" before Rekaterin placed the scalpel inside of a tin held by a waiting assistant. "Clean that." indicating both Leo's face and the scalpel, "I want to use it again soon. I think that this one will require many more lessons in the future."

"Yes sir", was his response.

Aeris, horrified at what she'd seen, finally said something. "You're disgusting, do you know that?"

To this Rekaterin only chuckled again as he turned to the attendants still manning the panels along the wall. "Have the readings been finished?"

One of the attendants turned to answer the question. Her voice was feminine, the only means of distinguishing her gender beneath the heavy suit. "Yes sir. All results have come back positive. The subjects are in perfect health."

Rekaterin nodded his approval. "Excellent, in that case I will take my leave." He walked to the only door out of the room. Before leaving he looked over his shoulder. "You are to wait here until Lieutenant Reaves is present. Then you may take them away."

In unison Leo and Aeris interrupted him, "Wait!"

Leo, "Where are you going?"

Aeris, "And where are you sending us?"

Still in pain Leo took it one step further, "And what did you take us out of the simulation for?"

Rekaterin turned around and raised his voice in a command, "Calm down you two."

Leo and Aeris both fell silent.

Rekaterin relaxed, "That is better." He walked a pace back into the room, "Now, I have important visitors coming soon who would be… displeased if they became aware of your existence. And I when I say displeased I mean that your very existence would offend them."

He began walking all the way back to them, "You see, I knew when you arrived that they were coming so I arranged for just a little bit of fun before their arrival." He reached Leo and Aeris and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, "We may have only had two days but…" he looked at them meaningfully, "they were an… eventful two days were they not?"

But there was still one question left unanswered, and it was Aeris who brought it out, "But we were dead. You said if we died there then-"

Rekaterin interrupted there, smiling, "Yes, about that... I lied." With that, Rekaterin started backing out the room, still speaking, "So, now that all our work is finished, I will take my leave, I have an appointment to make with an old friend of yours, I believe that you met him once. I seem to recall him having something to do with your arrival. In fact, I think that I shall even say hello to him for you, for you have something to say to him?"

"Fuck you!" it was Aeris who'd shouted at Rekaterin just as he turned in the doorway, the door itself closing behind him to the sound of his deranged laughter.

Rekaterin straightened himself, the act finally finished.

Smoothing his hair back against his head he smirked to himself, "Well, that was fun." But the smirk died swiftly as Rekaterin marched towards his study.

By the time he reached one of the dozens of entryways his face was a mask of complete cold-blooded apathy.

He had used this face many times. It was a face he knew could wear any expression, play any charade, and still make him feel as cold as he was on the inside.

Because there wasn't any warmth inside him, and there wasn't any humor. Inside him there was only the twisted desecration that was his soul.

It was like a statue of ice made flesh, lacerated and torn, held together in pieces by stitches of barbed wire, crying out in agony.

It suited him well.

* * *

><p>Inside the dimly lit study a solitary and remote silhouette stood drenched in shadow in front of the fire, waiting. It watched the flames dancing in front of it silently, its own shadow to spreading around the room behind it, towering over everything.<p>

Inside the room, nothing moved, until Rekaterin entered in from one his many secret doors.

Three steps into the dark, he stopped, and broke the silence, "I admit that I am surprised that you've come back, Captain."

The man in front of the fire turned to speak, revealing only half his face in the firelight. "It's all about cost to benefit ratio. You cheated me, but those two animals were worthless compared to what I can make off of you in the next several years." His voice was steely, clear and mirthless, cutting though the air like a knife. "Besides, the real prize was the machine I found them with. To the right buyer, it was worth a fortune, a fortune that is now mine."

Rekaterin smiled. "I am exceedingly glad that you've chosen to take this so reasonably." He looked around and the smile faded as he noticed how dark the room was. _"I still can't understand why the lights are always off whenever he's in my office. It's baffling."_ With a dismissive wave of his hand he spoke at the ceiling, "Lights," and the room was filled with the soft glow of the many small lamps attached to the ceiling.

The captain walked away from the fire towards the seat in front of Rekaterin's desk. "But I am curious, how have you been handling those two?"

Rekaterin's smile widened into a toothy grimace, "Oh excellently. I've been… experimenting with them." He sat down and gestured for the captain to do likewise. "They've responded well, so far. In fact, I believe that they even gave me a message for you, would you like to hear it?""

Now seated the captain shook his head. "Spare me. I can imagine what it was." He was curious, if only just, and he asked, "And the purpose of these tests has been what, exactly?"

One of the only things Rekaterin enjoyed as much as his work was reliving it by telling others of it. Resting his elbows on the desk he folded his fingers in front of him, still wearing that grin, "Suffering. You know, it's amazing how easily two people can be forced together-" He meshed his hand together, as if he were kneading dough, "-through it they will become close closer than they ever thought possible. Then, when they've done what I wanted from them-" He separated his hands and looked at his nails. "- I'll rip them apart."

The captain raised an eyebrow. "I see. That's… very interesting."

Though he'd said it, he had no interest in the matter at all. In reality he was far from forgiving Rekaterin for anything. But retribution could wait. For now there was something slightly more practical that was in need of addressing.

"The matter is cleared then. I came here to sell you some new animals, would you like to see them?"

Adapting quickly to the change in subject Rekaterin became serious once more. "Yes, that would be fine." He leaned back in his chair. "What do you have for me this time Kutler?"

For a moment they sat there in silence, the energy crackling between them almost tangible. Kutler's icy grey eyes locked with Rekaterin's electric blue.

Kutler leaned forward, "I have a number of very rare and very dangerous things for you."

"Excellent. In that case I would like to-", Rekaterin was cut short when he saw that a newcomer had entered the room.

Rekaterin redirected his attention away from Kutler. "Lieutenant Reaves, to what do I owe the pleasure of your interruption?"

Before speaking Reaves saluted, though very loosely, "Apologies sir, but the Paloridian Emissaries have arrived. Their ship is waiting outside the complex awaiting entry to the main hangar."

Rekaterin rose to his feet. "I see. And have our "guests" been accommodated."

"They have sir."

He placed his attention back on Kutler, "In that case I'm afraid that I will have to be leaving now Captain." He looked back at his lieutenant, "Reaves, see to it that the Captain is paid for whatever he's brought me, I'm sure you can arrange the price."

"Yes sir."

Rekaterin stepped around his desk, "Very well, I bid you both adieu." And with that Rekaterin left the room.

From his chair, Kutler turned around to smile at the rooms only other occupant. "Hello Reaves."

"Theron."

Kutler Theron rolled his eyes, and his demeanor changed drastically from that of a cold predator to something warmer and more familiar, "I've told you before Reaves, its Kutler."

Beneath his mask, Reaves chuckled, the speakers distorting his voice and turning the laugh into a bizarre crackling. Reaves lifted his hands and removed his mask and helmet, revealing dark, chocolaty brown skin, short black hair, and a very white toothy smile. His voice spread through the filled the in a deep, low, rumbling bass, "I know that. I just like to annoy you."

Kutler chuckled, "Well I'm glad that I get to business with you now. How've you been doing around here? You look different."

Reaves' smile faded and his brow furrowed as he rubbed the small beard that bordered his lips and chin. "It's gotten bad Theron. Worse than it used to be." He walked up the Rekaterin's desk and leaned against the front of it. "The man's a psychopath." He looked at the ground to his left. "It used to be that I just managed the station, made sure everything stayed working." His eyes drifted from the floor to his hands. "But lately, he's been bringing me in on the things he works on. He's got more than he used to. There are things here, things I can't un-see."

Reaves' chestnut colored eyes turned towards the fire, "He's been working on something special too-", he looked at Kutler, who seemed bothered by something, "-and it's not those two new ones you brought that he stole from you. It's something else, and he's showing it to those emissaries today."

Kutler looked away, "Reaves, if you're thinking of leaving, then I suggest that you do it soon. And I mean _very _soon."

Reaves brought up a holographic display in front of the desk to examine Rekaterin's funds. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Kutler looked back at Reaves and then at the display, "Don't worry about it, you'll understand. One thing though."

Reaves looked up from the display, "What?"

"Just take the cages, this shipment is free", with that Kutler stood and began walking out of the room.

Behind him, Reaves sat perplexed. "…alright."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: There, new chapter. (50,000 word mark, Yay!)**

**I really like this one and I've been waiting to do it for a while.**

**But the next chapter is one I've been thinking about for even longer, so I'm going to get strait to that and see if I can get to you as rapidly as is possible.**

**Enjoy you fellows and ladies. So long!**


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Unleashed

**Chapter Sixteen: Unleashed**

* * *

><p>Rekaterin stepped in front of the viewing monitor in the main hangar control room. He turned to the woman operating the door controls, "Prep the doors."<p>

"Yes sir"

He then directed his attention towards the man regulating the communications equipment. "Inform the pilot of the emissary ship that he should be ready to land momentarily."

"Yes sir."

Seconds later Rekaterin was notified that the monstrous doors leading into the belly of the station were ready. At about the same time the pilot of the Paloridian ship sent the message that the ship was ready outside.

Rekaterin stepped up to the monitor and turned his head and snapped at the woman at the door controls,"Let them in."

"Yes sir."

As the words were spoken an alarm went off inside the hangar, one that could be heard through the many feet of solid metal standing between it and Rekaterin.

On the monitor, Rekaterin could see bright red lights blinking in and out of existence on the screen as the mouth of the hangar grinded open, inviting the ship carrying the two men who would determine the merit of his last years worth of effort and work inside.

To Rekaterin, it was vastly insulting. Even the thought of the officials no doubt lounging comfortably on that ship gave him cause to scowl.

He watched as the vessel glided between the teeth of the doors into the airlock.

Arrogant, ruthless, power-hungry, vindictive, and cruel, that's what they were. These were men who had been granted their high positions based on a single defining qualiy, their capacity for inhumanity.

All these traits he could approve of, except when they inconvenienced him, which was exactly what he was going to have to pretend they were not doing now.

_"Only a few moments,"_ Rekaterin thought to himself.

Just a few moments playing the part of the submissive kowtowing dog and he could move forward. That was all it would take. So he left the room, leaving orders to reseal the bay doors as soon as the ship set down.

Rekaterin readied himself for his next act…

* * *

><p>In the holding pen, seven cages now rested, filled with dozens of terrifying enormous bat-like creatures.<p>

The cages were full to the point that it became impossible to see clearly into them. The notion of distinguishing how many of the bats occupied the space was quickly abandoned by the pen staff once the head handler had a piece of meat tossed into the cages. The result of the experiment was… messy.

It was for these reasons, and because the bats never ceased to move inside the cages, that the invisible shapes inside went unnoticed by staff or scanners. The former of which had left to clean the holding cell the bats would be moved to shortly.

While they were gone, a voice, seemingly from out of empty space, spoke to another empty space next to it inside the cage closest to the door. Through all the screeches and growls and whimpers amassed through the room it was left unheard by the handlers. "Do we go now sir?"

"Not yet Maliek, we have to wait half an hour before we make a move. That was what the captain wanted."

There was a brief pause, where only the sounds from the animals were heard. Then Maliek spoke again, this time sounding like he was distracted, looking for something. "I don't see them anywhere… do you?"

Clay had been looking too, and his results had been just as disappointing. "No I don't. But we didn't think that they would be here anyway. Now be quite, I don't want to take any chances."

"What if we can't find them in time?"

"Then we'll leave… and they'll die… now be quite."

* * *

><p>Back in the main hangar, before entering and greet his unwelcome guests, Rekaterin reached into his lab coat pocket and withdrew two heavy gloves. After gingerly inserting his hands into them, he moved his fingers deftly over the combination interface and entered the hangar.<p>

Inside he was given full view of about half of the Paloridian ship.

It was something to behold. A Paloridian cruiser was not a ship to be trifled with. Nothing to do with the Paloridian was to be trifled with really, but especially not their ships. They were among the most ferocious in the system.

In the outer empires scarcely five of any given nations best vessels could take on a single Paloridian cruiser of any class but the very lightest.

And inside this ship Rekaterin could see immerging two people deserving of the reputations that circled Paloridian Inquisitors.

Inquisitor Marburg and Inquisitor Deza.

One a tall looming hairless man with skin as pale and translucent as paper, across it a tattoo splashed like a bottle of spilled ink. His face was consumed by a hooked nose and bones that stretched his skin tight. Dark heavy bags sagged beneath tombstone grey eyes lined with yellow.

He looked like a skeleton, given life and made to roam the cosmos, bringing quiet and pitiless death wherever he went. Fear and terror were his followers.

This was Inquisitor Marburg.

The other a man was shorter, younger, with dark skin. It had been baked a leathery brown on the planet he had grown up on. It was unmarked, save for seven scars all across his face. And from that face stared red eyes. Red because he'd had them replaced once. An imprisoned alien had managed to free itself and lash out at him, costing him both eyes. But it had done nothing. He liked the scars. And he liked the eyes he'd gained from it. He was short, skinny, imp-like and small.

But the malice that radiated from him was anything but small. This was a man of unrestrained power and cruelty, imaginativeand soulless. Compassionate as fire. Void of feeling. This was Inquisitor Deza.

And Rekaterin thought of them both as little more than passing nuisances.

He was everything they were, except he put his mind to work, rather than squandering his abilities on mindless entertainment.

Anyone could torture people. But not many could do it and achieve what he had done at the same time.

This was Rekaterin's thinking as he stepped up to his emerging judges, extending his gloved hand.

Marburg took it first. His voice was low, and he spoke softly. It held authority born of itself, extending outward in a constant tremor. "Doctor Rekaterin. I've been looking forward to our visit this year. It is whispered among us that you are to reveal the fruit of a great labor."

Rekaterin winced at the grip beneath the glove. "And I have been looking forward to revealing it to you."

Inquisitor Deza took his hand next, and this time the grip was harder.

Rekaterin cringed and brought his arm back to his side, cradling it against the sharp but brief spasm of pain.

"You shrink at our grasp Doctor, have you been damaged in some ill founded experiment?" The spiteful humor in Inquisitor Deza's voice was unmistakable.

Rekaterin swallowed his pride and looked up with a perturbing smile, "Oh I assure you inquisitor, an explanation will arise forthwith. In fact, if you would just follow me, I think that _everything_ will come into perspective."

Inquisitor Marburg, "Then let us go. I look forward to seeing your results this year Rekaterin, based on your funding I should expect them to be nothing short of spectacular."

Out loud Rekaterin smiled and said, "Oh, I assure you, they are, now if you'll please just follow me…"

He led them past the door and into a corridor leading to a special room he had always used for such occasions. It was segmented. Split in half by a three foot thick piece of transparent one way glass. There were two doors, one leading into the room, the other into the cell. In front of the glass several red chairs sat to help one better observe whatever might be held inside the cell. Heavy shelves filled with books containing Rekaterin's noted lined the walls. It was, in the simplest sense, a viewing room.

* * *

><p>Back in the holding block, fifteen handlers were attempting to move the seven cages into the one large cell where the bats would be kept.<p>

The head handler, by name of Fielder, was standing aside providing directions to his underlings.

Under his direction, everything was going very smoothly, that was until they had the cages in the cell.

The moment the last one was in, all seven cages sprung open as if of their own accord.

There was a moment of stillness.

The bats looked out at the handlers.

The handlers looked in at the bats.

Chaos erupted.

* * *

><p>Back in the viewing room Rekaterin had begun his speech.<p>

"…what is waiting behind this screen is undoubtedly unlike anything you've ever seen. I this know because I created it," He paused a moment, "In this room we are all aware of the ease with which we create life, sometimes with such regularity that we reduce the idea to idea a trifle. But what I have made is not a trifle, nor is it in the least bit regular." He lifted his hand to the curtain that, up to now, had obscured the viewing window. "What I have made, gentlemen, is-"

Inquisitor Deza saw fit to interrupt here. "Enough of your self-indulgent pomp Rekaterin, what is it?"

Rekaterin would have snarled if it wasn't for the curtain. Instead of sliding it smoothly along its railing as he had been planning, he vented his anger by ripping it off of its frail cords with a viciously decisive yank.

Half the curtain now hung awkwardly from it mounts, while the other still clung sorrowfully to its sad position, covering the remaining half of the viewing window.

The Inquisitors stood up to approach the uncovered part of the window.

It was covered with claw marks, deep ones, as was most of the room. But to the surprise of all, nothing seemed to be in the room.

Marburg voiced the question bordering the minds of his colleagues first. His voice sounded almost whimsical in its distance. It sounded wrong. "Rekaterin… where is it?"

Rekaterin scanned the room. "…. I'm not sure…"

Deza's head whipped from the window to Rekaterin. "What do you mean you aren't sure?!"

At that exact instant, just as the last word fell from his lips, Deza was overcome with a sensation of shocked horror.

He could see it now, it was staring at him. And it was inches away from his face.

It had been hiding on the ceiling in its cell. Rekaterin looked at it and it seemed to him that the creature was exhibiting that same bizarre quality he had observed in the simulation, when he'd set on Leo and Aeris. It was a quality that gave him the distinct impression that, if it could, it would be laughing.

He wasn't sure of course, but the notion struck him as comical. He loved the creature's sense of humor.

Though from his newfound place on the floor, where he'd fallen after he recoiled from the glass, it seemed that Inquisitor Deza did not share in Rekaterin's opinion.

"How dare you?!"

Rekaterin raised an eyebrow. "How dare I what?!"

Deza blustered from the floor, "How dare you arrange such a ridiculous prank on my person?! Don't play that you didn't plan this. I am an Inquisitor, I always know."

Rekaterin stood perfectly still and raised his eyebrow a second time, this time adding the stylish accent of slightly lowering the other one. "I'm afraid that I don't quite understand what you're saying Inquisitor Deza. What precisely do you know?"

Inquisitor Marburg foresaw the situation escalating to a level with which he was not comfortable very quickly. So knowing this, he did something he very rarely did. He raised his voice.

"Be quite Deza."

Deza was taken aback for a moment. "What?"

Marburg took his hands, placed them beneath Deza's armpits, and with surprising strength, heaved Deza onto his feet. "I said…. Be quite. The Doctor is not at fault for your clumsiness… nor your week heartedness."

Deza was once again taken aback. "You suggest…. What entitles you to make such a-"

From his full height Marburg stooped, towering darkly over Deza, and stared down into him like an angel of death staring into the soul of an unrepentant sinner, judging everything. "I am still seven years your senior Deza…. I will remind you not to forget it," he sneered, "you are beneath me."

Deza was silent.

Marburg swiveled his eyes to Rekaterin. "Now Doctor…."

Rekaterin was surprised at what had just transpired. He'd never seen the Inquisitor behave thus. It was a revealing insight into a potential enemy he now deemed very much more dangerous. "Yes Inquisitor."

Marburg drifted past a still Deza to stand by the window. He lifted a hand to his chin and pointed a finger into the cell. "If you would explain this creature to me… what is its purpose?"

Rekaterin smiled. "Of course Inquisitor Marburg, it would be my pleasure. Tell me, do you have a spare slave lying around?"

* * *

><p>Back in the holding pen, chaos had continued to erupt.<p>

Immediately after the bats had made their spontaneous escape the handlers had attempted to flee the cell. But to their dismay, they found that as soon as one of them, they couldn't see who, made it out, he immediately turned around and locked the cell door behind him.

Through the small porthole in the door, Fielder, the head handler, was standing with his palm pressed against the locking pad.

But when he turned around, he ran into something that wasn't there and fell against the door with a metallic clank.

It was now that Maliek uncloaked himself.

He looked at Fielder. Then he looked in through the porthole at Fielder's screaming comrades. Then he looked back at Fielder and shook his head. He made a tuttingsound while shaking his head. "Lad lad lad… you've made a very bad mistake."

Fielder's voice was shaking. "What?"

Maliek smiled. "You locked yourself out of the safe place…"

* * *

><p>Just a short while later, in the holding unit, six bodies littered the floor all along the corridor, all wearing handlers' uniforms.<p>

Fielder was sitting in the control room babbling hurriedly into the com. "Lieutenant Reaves! Please report immediately to holding unit B in sector 1-H immediately. There are six men unconscious on the ground in the holding area. Possible contamination."

Fielder then turned around and opened his mouth to speak.

He was interrupted.

"Don't talk."

It was Clay's voice, but no visible body accompanied it.

Maliek's disembodied voice was there too. "Turn back around."

Fielder grew frustrated, but he did it. For this he received a sharp clap on the back swiftly followed by the sound of Maliek providing instruction.

"Good, now I want to act just like if you were actually concerned that there was something in there bothering your "friends". Run scans for foreign contaminants or something. And while you're doing that I want a full blueprint of this facility, I know you said that there were secret rooms everywhere that wouldn't show up on that, but that's not what we're interested in so don't mention it again."

Fielder did as he was told and said nothing. Meanwhile Maliek busied himself by watching every move that he made to ensure that nothing was amiss.

Clay on the other hand was busy brooding over the plan.

Not more than a few moments before he had explained his intentions to Maliek.

The plan had been straightforward and fairly simple.

Once they had hitched a ride into the station via the bat cages they were to escape and incapacitate anyone who could interfere. And so they had.

Next they were to acquire the layout of the station and interpret it, as Fielder was doing for them now.

Following that, the group would release very animal and beast in the holding pens and open the doors into the station from the holding block. And set of every alarm they could from the control room.

In the commotion, under cover of their cloaking suits, they were to strategically place very small, but very powerful, explosives in key areas throughout the station.

But against all his better judgment, Clay had decided to change the plan.

Had Captain Theron not mentioned his meeting with Lieutenant Reaves it was very likely that Clay would have done nothing. It was almost certain that Clay would have done exactly as he had been told.

But Captain Theron had mentioned the conversation and the infectious seed of an idea had planted itself Clay's head. And as hard as he'd tried, Clay had been unable to stifle it.

The plan had changed.

Before releasing the monsters Rekaterin kept and setting the alarms, he and Maliek would wait for Reaves and whoever happened to accompany him to arrive.

Meanwhile their men had stolen handlers' uniforms and were now lying in wait back in the holding block hallway, pretending to be unconscious.

When Reaves and company arrived Clay and Maliek would have to make quick work of Reaves' escort what other way necessary and then convince Reaves himself to lead them to where the two cat-people were hidden.

If they accomplished that then the plan would resume normally, except that now Clay and Maliek would be escorted by Reaves, in whom they would be forced to place absolute trust, to Leo and Aeris who, if they were lucky, they would be able to sneak onto their own ship under the pretense that Reaves was moving them to a more "secure area", assuming that Leo and Aeris were both alive and capable of moving, a fact of which Clay was not even remotely sure of.

Then, if nothing went horribly wrong, they would blow up the station and make a clean getaway, leaving Rekaterin's space station either in ruin or completely destroyed, only then to face the wrath of Captain Theron.

And this entire plan hinged on them not dying between then and now.

Though abandoning the plan was something he would never do, Cay liked his situation less and less, to the point where he began talking out loud to himself. With a sigh, "How do I get myself into these things?"

Maliek overheard the question. Rhetorical or not, Maliek had an answer ready. "Maybe you just hang around the wrong types of people. You wouldn't call our crew or customers friendly would you?"

"…thank you Maliek. I think I understand the problem now."

Completely ignoring Clay's sarcasm, Maliek smiled without ever drawing his eyes off Fielder. "You're welcome. Now you can stop your whining and we can all be happy."

Clay rolled his eyes silently.

So they waited in silence, Maliek contentedly watching Fielder's every move, Clay still brooding in the corner, now watching the monitors for Reaves.

He didn't have long to wait.

Less than five minutes passed before Lieutenant Reaves arrived, accompanied by two other guards.

As soon as they entered Fielder stood and saluted, "Lieutenant."

Reaves had his helmet on once again, so his response was muted and distorted by the static when he began interrogating Fielder.

"Fielder, I got the message. This must be serious of you called me here... so what's the problem?"

Fielder had been expecting Maliek and Clay to have done something by now and so was caught unprepared to offer any explanation to a very aggravated Reaves.

The lieutenant removed his helmet to better glare at Fielder. "By all means, take your time."

The only thing Fielder could manage was babbling, incoherently. "Well I… you…. It's…. Oh for god's sake they're right behind you!"

Reaves and his two counterparts looked behind them to see what on earth it was that Fielder was babbling about. Of course finding nothing, Reaves turned back around to confront a now very nervous Fielder on his erratic behavior.

His voice took a dangerous edge, "Fielder…. either you just dragged me here for nothing or you lost your mind. If you're lucky, the doctor will tell me it's that second one…"

"Now!"

The shout, which had come from Clay, was swiftly followed by the two guards on either side of Reaves being yanked away and hurled against either wall. The invisible Clay and Maliek followed up on their surprise attack with a new weapon.

Each placed a hand on the metal plates of the guard uniforms and activated the new feature on their stealth suits, shock gloves.

For a moment each guard convulsed violently before collapsing in heaps on the ground.

Before Reaves could respond to any of this he found himself placed in a submissive hold from behind. But it didn't last long. While Reaves struggled against his invisible opponent Clay materialized in front of him and removed his face mask.

"Reaves, Reaves, it's me, Clay."

As soon as Clay announced who he was Reaves halted in his attempts to escape and Maliek relinquished his grip.

While all this transpired, Fielder had been attempting to quietly slip away to sound the alarm. He would have done it there, but Fielder was, above all else, a coward, and if he'd set off the alarm in the control room, he could only guess that his captors would be less than kind to him after. Unfortunately for him, Fielder felt a vice like grip crushing his shoulder before he could reach the door.

The owner of the hand, who stood behind him, was a disappointed looking Maliek, shaking his head in disdain. "Fielder, I'm not happy. Not even a little." Maliek looked away from Fielder and smiled at Clay. "Can you believe it Clay, Fielder was trying to sell us out to the guards, _again._"

Clay rolled his eyes. "Maliek, enough games, just take care of him so that we can make it out of here before anyone gets suspicious."

Maliek smiled wider. "You got it." He looked back to Fielder. "Well I guess this is the end of the trip for you Fielder. Sweet dreams"

With that Maliek removed the hand that had been gripping fielder in place up to now and activated the electrocution feature on his suit.

In a last feeble attempt at escape Fielder leapt for the door. The moment he reached it, Maliek landed behind him and delivered the crippling blow.

After Fielder collapsed from the shock Maliek turned around while examining his hands. He walked back to the other two people in the room, who had been watching him. "Love these gloves."

Clay angled his head and nodded slightly, gracing the comment with an affirmative grunt of indifference. "Go get the others and tell them to get their explosives ready, we move in a minute."

"You go it."

After Maliek walked out of the room, Reaves brought Clay's attention to himself. "So Clay, it's nice to see you again, but unless Cutler's changed a lot more than I thought, I'm going to guess that you're not here just to say hello. So what _are _you here for?"

Clay, seeming to drop out of a trance, looked up at Reaves. "… I've got a deal for you."

"What kind of deal's that?"

Clay smirked. 'The kind where you lead me and Maliek to two people we're looking for and then "escort" them onto our ship, where you receive the special gift of not exploding along with this space station."

For a moment, Reaves chewed on the information presented to him, going so far as to recall his conversation with Captain Theron only a short while earlier. Suddenly it seemed much clearer what he had been hinting at back then. "Sneaky, oh you're sneaky…."

Clay graced Reaves with a perplexed look. "What?"

Reaves was finished processing. "Nothin' Clay, but I think my new captain has a different way of recruiting than most."

Clay smiled. "I'd say so too, if this was his idea."

Reaves returned the smile. "I've been thinking that it was time for a career change." He became serious. "So these two people you're looking for, I think I might have an idea where to find them. They don't happen to have cat tails, cat ears, and a real bad habit of getting themselves in trouble?"

Maliek walked back into the room at that moment. "Sounds like them to me."

* * *

><p>"Gentlemen, what you see before you is a near perfect example of a living, breathing, killing machine; for all intents and purposes, an organic weapon of mass destruction."<p>

Rekaterin did so love this part. For everything he hated about these visits, showcasing his work made it all worth it… almost.

Deza interrupted, "You say it's _almost _perfect. What's wrong with it?"

Rekaterin's jaw clenched. "There is nothing _wrong _with it_. _There were some unanticipated attributes that were carried over from its host but what you're looking at is in essence the prototype. Nothing is missing. This version is every bit as lethal as the final model, which I will be giving to you, if anything, this one is more dangerous."

Rekaterin had seated the inquisitors after the first little incident and Marburg now leaned forward in his chair. His eyes never left the creature. He was analyzing it.

While Marburg was analyzing it, it was analyzing Marburg. To it, the human looked outwardly frail, but the creature recognized something familiar about and it has seen the tall boney ape descendant heft the irritating short man with little effort.

It turned its head and blinked back at Marburg, its translucent eyelid sweeping horizontally down its eye, and decided that it wasn't interested in the human. So it crawled down to the floor to see if anything had changed there.

Marburg clasped his fingers. "My mind presents me with a question Doctor. If of the two versions this is the more lethal, then why is the weaker strain the one you expect us to accept?"

Rekaterin looked into the viewing window at the very first of several different varieties of his design. "Because this one is not suited to your purposes," he looked back at Marburg, "What I mean to say is that this creature serves only one purpose, its own entertainment."

"How do you mean?"

"…when I made it, it struck me that it would be entertaining to deliver it into the world via a host organism." Rekaterin smiled cruelly, "Of course I could have simply grown it in one of the organic generation chambers, but what fun would have been lost had I abandoned such an opportunity."

Inside its cage, the creature was still searching for anything interesting on the floor. It of course found nothing. And all throughout it was listening to what was being said in the other room, understanding every word of it.

It was unamused. It hadn't been enjoying itself at all in this place. The ape men talking were boring, its cage was boring, and as far as it could tell nothing was likely to change soon. So it consigned itself to simply sitting there, quietly observing until an opportunity

Deza's foot was tapping impatiently. "Are you fast approaching a point Rekaterin?"

Rekaterin practically ignored the question. "The genetic models that followed this one are only interested in feeding, mating, and killing. They lack base survival instinct. I designed them to be less an organism, and more a plague."

Rekaterin swept his hand in front of him, "They will obliterate anything they can eat, reproducing at alarming rates, as many as two hundred offspring spawned per parent. Eventually they will consume _everything_. And when they starve, the infrastructure and vegetation will be left primarily intact for whatever party desired the planet enough to let loose an apocalypse. In this case, you, that party being you."

To people such as those in the viewing room this idea was miraculous. Even Deza couldn't contain a certain fascination with the idea. And so for the first time Deza asked a serious question. "And in what time frame could we expect a planet to be wiped clean?"

Rekaterin's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Twice now Deza had completely deviated from his ordinary behavior, so too had Inquisitor Marburg. _"It seems that this is a day for firsts."_

That thought put aside, he answered the question. "With the ordinary version? If you were to plant one in each major city simultaneously it would take perhaps three to four weeks to empty them; to completely empty the planet, perhaps a month or two. Unfortunately, as I said, Makinis's interests extend beyond pure mindless killing. He seeks to entertain himself. So my demonstration will not be a perfect example of the species usual behavior."

As if to clarify Rekaterin's point, a horrendous shrieking filled the room, its source, a newly amused Makanis scraping his razor like claws down the glass window of his prison.

His work finished, Makanis scuttled across the floor and began scratching the beginnings of a pattern into the opposite wall.

Rekaterin gestured into the cell, "You see my point." He began pacing, shaping a ball of air in his hands as he explained, lost in his memories. "When I was searching for a host I required that it posses certain inherent qualities required for the design. A level of compatibility was needed or the host body would reject the fetus and both subjects would shortly perish." He shook his head, "This occurred many times before I eventually found one I believed to be a suitable candidate."

Marburg turned his head to better watch Rekaterin, "You called the creature Makinis a moment ago. Why?"

Rekaterin smiled. "As I am the creator of this new species I though it only fitting to name it, The species will be called Makinis Ne'igalomeatiganus, after the alien from which our lovely friend in the cell crawled out of."

"and this candidate was…"

"…an amphibious species of alien, one that seemed the most physically compatible with the design."

Deza and Marburg exchanged approving glances.

Deza thought to voice what had been mutually understood between himself and his partner. "An alien you say? How fitting. If you have a positive quality, it's your ability to select the best of test subjects."

Rekaterin took a small bow. "Why thank you. Your opinion on the matter is extremely valuable to me." Now that he was finished patronizing Deza in his "not so secret" fashion, Rekaterin returned to the subject at hand. "Sadly, what I did not consider were the effects of that species psychological trends and how they would influence my creation before and after its conception."

Marburg interrupted to pose a question. "I'm not entirely certain of what you're suggesting. In what way could the parent's psychology interfere?"

"Well to begin with the subject was male and some…. modifications were necessary. In truth I anticipated that complications might arise from that alone." "But what's more important is that the host species has evolved with near perfect memories, phenomenal intellect, and in the barbaric outer nations they are considered among the foremost of the thinking peoples in the system. I knew that simply having a physical parent would result in some imperfections and among those that developed were cognizance."

To this Deza responded in his more usual, acerbic, manner, "And of course knowing all of this, you proceeded. How characteristically foolish."

Even Marburg found himself agreeing, grudgingly. "I confess Doctor, it does strain on the bounds of what falls within acceptable reason."

Rekaterin shifted his head side to side in a suggestion of indifference to their opinions. "Perhaps, but the point of the matter was not to create perfection. It was purely for my own amusement. It did however produce unexpectedly positive results. This creature has been instrumental in several other experiments involving complex neural simulators."

At this point Rekaterin had had far too much of explaining himself. "But it's inadvertent alterations aside, please, allow me to demonstrate it's ahhhh… features for you. I can assure you, they're quite impressive to watch."

* * *

><p>Clay directed his attention to the remaining seven people in the room. "I want to make myself very clear here." He pointed towards each of the seven men. "After we open all the cells each of you is still to position the explosives just like before. The difference is that Maliek and I will <em>not <em>be going with you."

Maliek interjected. "Instead we're going to go have some fun with our new friend here" He clapped Reaves on the back enthusiastically to stress his "friendliness". "Oh, and you'll also be dropping our other friend-" he pointed at fielder, who was slumped unconscious in the corner, "-in the cell with the other guards before you let the animals loose."

Clay resumed from where he'd left off, "After positioning the bombs wait five minutes, five you understand, and then detonate. After that we rendezvous back hangar thirteen, which you now all have marked on the blueprint we've given you. It's a small hanger and should only have one or two small outer maintenance ships. We'll steal one and return to_ The Corsair_. One thing though, if you're caught then we're all as good as dead, so if you do get caught kill everything, kill everything and then either head for an escape pod or kill yourself. This is _the last_ place you want to be a prisoner in and we all know why."

He let his words sink in a moment before asking, "Am I understood?"

Everyone in the room nodded. Not a single question was raised about where Maliek, Clay, and the tall guard were going. Everyone simply prepared their weapons and then prepared themselves.

Clay nodded his approval. "Good, now everyone engage your stealth suits and let's get moving."

* * *

><p>It had taken only a few short minutes for the Inquisitors to have a slave summoned and brought to the viewing room.<p>

Now that slave was starring, terrified, at the door she was meant to go through.

Rekaterin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She stood about five nine to his six two, so the weight of Rekaterin's hand was not lost on the slave.

His voiced washed over her like oily slime laced with false sugar, "Now now my dear, there is no need to worry yourself. You'll be entirely fine, I promise you."

The girl, of age twenty perhaps, looked up at him with a familiar face. He'd seen it a million times and he would see it a million more. It was the expression of an animal that understands that death is coming, of an animal that knows its fate and fears it above all things.

Rekaterin's false smile shifted slightly, creating a small crack in his mask of sincere comfort, opening a window to the madness inside. "Just step forward…. You'll be fine."

In spite of her fear and her mistrust, the slave girl did as Rekaterin asked and stepped toward the threshold of the corridor leading into the room covered by the curtain a moment before.

No sooner had her foot past the frame of the first door did Rekaterin shove her viciously into the hall.

The door slammed shut behind her immediately and the second opened, the one leading further into the cell. Then the floor shifted, angling itself up and pushing her into the room.

She clawed desperately at the smooth metal, but her frantic attempts to flee were pointless. The floor moved ever finally she was forced inside the slave girl saw the curtain go back. Rekaterin's face mocked her silently behind the glass.

But worse than what she saw outside was what she saw waiting for her inside.

The instant she laid on that _thing_, as was the only word she could think to describe it, it turned from the wall it had been scraping and stared at her.

Makanis had of course noticed the human earlier. He had heard her screams through the door when it had shut behind her, but she posed little interest to him then. But now she was in the room. She had invaded his territory. This would not do.

What the slave girl saw was its head turn towards her. It blinked at her twice and then its skin changed color. To her it even seemed to grow more coarse and grainy, almost to match the metal surrounding it.

That was the last thing she saw.

It didn't take long. With no room for his prey to run, Makanis found the prospect of play inadequate, so it was a swift death. In any case, he was hungry. Play would come later.

Makanis blurred across the room and severed the girls head from her shoulders. She didn't even have time to gasp.

Makanis began feeding.

Meanwhile Rekaterin was busy on the other side of the window, explaining events as they transpired.

"… you see how it's jaw opens?"

Marburg answered. "Yes."

"In each of those eight fangs resides venom of my own design, in a manner of speaking. It's actually a combination two venoms derived from two rare species native to the planet earth. A cure was actually developed for one of the two, but when the colonies left earth it faded into obscurity. It took years to find both species and then months to extract the venoms, successfully replicate them, and finally develop and antidote for them. Following that we faced the issue of synthesis and finding a cure for the new venom. In all the process took three and a half years."

Deza

"The effects of the venom are many fold. One of the main components is a neurotoxin by name of tetrodotoxin, which it also secretes through its skin as a defense mechanism. That, Inquisitor Deza, is the reason for my gloves."

Rekaterin lifted his hands, as he felt Deza required the visual aid.

"Now, there is the second venom, which I only happened upon it while reading a very obscure text on venomous earth species. It's comes from a jellyfish is no bigger than your thumbnail. Though few deaths were ever recorded, its venom was noted for several other valuable qualities. It was famed for the immense pain it caused, sometimes for days or even weeks and it instilled a sense of impending doom."

"But here are of course other features to be explored. For instance, like many amphibians, it breathes through its skin. While we're discussing its skin you may wish to note that it can change color. As they age, the species develops greater control over this, to the point of altering texture and even shape to match its environment when necessary. Something that you not know of course is how rapidly it has grown since its birth."

Rekaterin was correct of course, it had grown much since its birth, only two days previous. At almost four feet in length, its wiry tail adding another three feet to that measurement, it approached the size of a young jaguar. Rekaterin of course capitalized on the swiftness of its growth patterns beautifully.

"From birth to maturity, the process takes about one week. When Makanis was born, he was little more than a meter in length from head to tail, now he passes that mark in body length alone. Of course, he'll grow no further from now on, but his bones and his brain aren't quite finished developing yet."

Deza walked up to the window and tapped the glass. "You said that these creatures would die off once their food supply was extinguished?"

"Yes, I did."

Deza scrutinized Makanis while he ate. For Makanis the feeling was obnoxious, he did not enjoy having an audience while he ate his meal. Deza didn't know this, but it didn't matter. He reached his point, "So how long would they survive if they were to be fed constantly, until death."

Rekaterin was surprised by the question, so surprised that he gave a serious answer. "In truth I haven't considered it. Except for Makanis, it was never my intention that they live as normal creatures do. With their design in mind, it would be impossible in nature."

Marburg also stood. "What about in captivity then, like this one? How long would you then predict they would survive?"

For the first time in many years Rekaterin found himself without an answer. "I…" An alarm went off. It's piercing shriek flooding every square inch of space throughout the entire station. Shouting over it Rekaterin salvaged what he could from his last sentence, "I will answer your question in a moment. Excuse me."

He left the room and quickly seized a passing guard. Dozens of them were all running in the same direction, towards the holding cells.

"What's going on!?"

The guard recoiled from Rekaterin's wrath, but cracked from under his gasmask, "Sir, an alarm was set off in holding unit B. We have reports that the entire unit is overrun with the animals. They got out somehow."

Rekaterin's blood surged to a boil, "Who is responsible for this?!"

More crackling, "We don't know, all of the handlers have gone missing. A message was sent earlier requesting Lieutenant Reaves assistance, stating a possible contamination. He went, but no subsequent messages have been sent from inside, just the alarm. Not even bodies have been found yet sir."

Rekaterin relinquished his grip on the guard. His anger had faded, replaced by thoughtfulness. Something about this situation struck him as unusual. "Go, go and have all the guards put on duty. I don't care if they're training, on leisure time, or asleep, I want every man and woman on duty, am I understood?"

The guard saluted. "Yes sir."

"Good, then do it."

Inside, Deza and Marburg sat back down. Seconds later they were arguing. Over what was happening, Rekaterin and his work, and what they were to put in the report. They only could agree that something very peculiar was going on and that they both were going to find out what.

His business temporarily settled outside, Rekaterin stepped back into the room for a moment just before he would have to leave again.

Deza began shouting as soon as he saw the Doctor's head. "Rekaterin I demand to know-"

Rekaterin interrupted, "-Yes, I'm sure you do. And if you'll just excuse me for a moment I will go and find out what you want to know. This might take me some time. Try to occupy yourselves in my absence."

With that Rekaterin left the room. He shut the door behind him fully intent on returning with an explanation, something he was very anxious to have himself in that moment.

* * *

><p>In the corridors of the space station Reaves Clay and Maliek were all walking along single file, Clay and Maliek drifting behind Reaves with their cloaked suits.<p>

In order to maintain the illusion that Reaves was in fact alone, each person had confined themselves to silence. And it was because of this that they all found their thoughts wandering.

Clay was brooding, considering all the things that could possibly go wrong with the plan.

Reaves was more contemplative of the future, wondering what his role might be in this abrupt change to his life plans.

And Maliek was busy reassuring himself that Leo and Aeris would willingly go with the people who were responsible for their being here. Reaves had of course explained that they were both physically stable and completely lucid in their secret chamber, so Maliek rested more or less easy.

Besides, they were almost there. What could happen in a few short minutes?

* * *

><p>"…you didn't have to do that you know, and you shouldn't have done it."<p>

Leo turned his head from where he was sitting. Aeris winced once the still seeping gash staining the left side of his face came into view. Then Leo asked, in complete seriousness, "Done what?"

"Oh come on Leo, your fucking face is still covered in blood, your blood; you know what I'm talking about…you should have sat there and not said anything."

Leo surprised Aeris. He was neither angry, nor defensive, nor sad, nor repentant. What he said, he conveyed as a matter of fact. "I couldn't have done that."

"Well why not?" Aeris stomped. "Why couldn't you have just stayed out of it and spared yourself the pain. I made him angry; it was me he was focused on. I didn't need your help. If it was going to be one of us, it should have been me."

"Well he was going to hurt you", Leo explained. "What kind of friend would I be if I just sat there and let it happen?" He smiled deviously, "It's all part of my job description."

Aeris glanced back at Leo over her shoulder.

All this time, she'd been taking care of Leo, looking out for him, keeping him out of trouble as best she could. She'd considered it a thankless task; but thinking back on it, she saw truth in what Leo had said, the bloodied tear down his face lodging a stark reinforcement to it.

Aeris sighed and her shoulders slumped in defeat, she'd lost the argument. She probably would have done the same as Leo in any case and there was no sense in arguing the point further.

So instead she walked back across the room and slumped against the wall next to Leo.

Leo looked at her with a question on his lips before Aeris latched herself to his right arm and pulled him next to her. "Alright Leo, I get it." She looked up at him, "But do me a favor."

"What?"

"Be more careful in the future, as much as I like tick-tack-toe, I don't want to play it on your face."

Leo scoffed, "It doesn't hurt that much."

Aeris looked back down and rested her head against Leo's shoulder.

Leo had no idea what to say, but he was liking this so he instead and chose to say nothing and savor the moment.

They had been sitting like this for a little, both with their eyes closed, enjoying the first real moments of peace that they'd felt in what to them seemed an eternity, when Leo realized that there was something he should say now that he had the opportunity.

"Aeris…"

Aeris had begun to doze."Hmm?"

"I think I should tell you something, before anything else happens…"

Aeris opened one eye and navigated it to Leo's. "And what might that be?"

"Well I-"

"-will have to wait until later because it's time to go."

The voice had crackled through the speakers in each corner of the room. But it had belonged, not to Rekaterin as Leo or Aeris had suspected, but to Maliek.

* * *

><p>In the minutes that had followed his arrival, the scene of chaos in the holding cells had erupted with a storm of orders barreling over the noise like thunder from Rekaterin's lips.<p>

To his surprise it took less effort than expected to rally the guards into one cooperative group and subsequently retake the holding area from the animals. Of course in the confusion before his arrival some had escaped and where enjoying a temporary free reign over the station, but the situation had been largely contained, enough so that the unconscious shapes of the handlers could be found, a very disgruntled Fielder and several guards walking about among them.

Distinguishing Fielders uniform markings as those of the head handler, Rekaterin descended onto a newly terrified Fielder.

"Now I want to you to tell me, you insufferably incompetent little cretin, who is responsible for this?"

Rekaterin twisted his face from into a grisly, warped, evil smile that would have made even a worm's skin crawl, "I hope for your sake that it wasn't you, was it?"

When faced with Rekaterin and his smile, Fielder panicked. "I don't know!"

Rekaterin stood over Fielder and looked down on him with disgust. "Do you genuinely expect me to believe that Mister Fielder?"

Fielder looked up and shook his head hurriedly. "N-no sir. I meant to say that I couldn't see them."

Rekaterin's curiosity was aroused. "Couldn't see who?"

"The men who did this. They came in the cages then let the animals out. I couldn't see any of them until they had me call Lieutenant Reaves and two others, then they ambushed them and knocked me out."

"What?!" Rekaterin roared, seizing Fielder by the collar of his uniform and yanking him violently in from of him. "Before you were unconscious, did they say anything, names, plans, anything?!"

Fielder almost squeaked in terror, "They didn't say anything about their plans."

Rekaterin eyes glazed over. Without a word Rekaterin threw Fielder away and drew the dart gun he'd taken to carrying after his first meeting with Makanis and pointed it at Fielder.

From the ground Fielder shouted, "But I did here a name! Two of them!"

Rekaterin lifted the pistol ever so slightly up. "Go on…."

"Ah-eh, one of them was named… mm, mmaa, M-Maliek! Yes Maliek!"

Rekaertin trained the pistol back onto fielders head. "That doesn't rings any bells mister Feilder…"

"No please! The other one was named ah- god what was it- Clay! The leaders name was Clay!"

Rekaterin's eyes widened.

Fielder was instantaneously forgotten as Rekaterin wheeled onto the nearest guard and began shouting, "You there!"

The guard turned mid-step and snapped to attention, dropping the mop he'd been carrying with a small clatter. "Yes sir!"

"Has Lieutenant Reaves been found among these bodies?"

"No sir, but two other guards have."

"Alert all senior officers, Lieutenant Reaves has been compromised. I want him apprehended at any and all costs. Tell them that the station has been infiltrated and to seal off all exits. We are as of yet unsure of total enemy numbers, only that they are equipped with stealth suits and at least some are either holding Lieutenant Reaves hostage or being accompanied by him. Tell them search everywhere and to start in sector 7-C. There's something they'll be looking for there, and Lieutenant Reaves knows where it is."

The guard saluted and sped off to fulfill his orders.

Rekaterin, for his part, was confident that Clay and his simple-minded friends would shortly be found, subdued, and summarily executed.

And yet… he was still concerned. Surely a group equipped in the way the Fielder had described would not come here merely to rescue a pair is ill-fortuned anthromorphs, no matter how valuable they might be to Captain Theron, or how foolish Clay might be. "_So if not for them, then what other reason could they have for being here?"_

Rekaterin's answer didn't keep him waiting.

From the other side of the station an explosion erupted. It shook the station down from top to bottom, rattling it like a hollow tin can, wrenching the ground from under Rekaterin's feet, sending smoke billowing through the ventilation system and igniting bright orange emergency lights.

Through the smoke now pouring through the vents, Rekaterin rose to his feet and shouted after the guard to no avail, "Belay the orders you! Get back here and listen!"

But his shouting was pointless, the guard was long gone from earshot, so Rekaterin instead found a different guard and gave his orders to him.

"Listen closely, I want you to contact whoever is in charge in the absence of the Lieutenant and I want you to tell them to begin scouring the ship for any more explosives, there are bound to be at least four more devices. Tell them also if they see anyone, anyone at all whom they do not recognize, that they are to be shot on sight, understood?"

"Yes sir. And the Inquisitors-"

"-can die in the inferno for all I care! Just get me those explosives!"

"Yes Sir!"

With that the new guard darted off in the same direction as the last one.

Rekaterin traced his path for a moment before heading for his office. He needed to be somewhere right now…

* * *

><p>Before the first explosion had struck, the Inquisitors were still in the viewing room, where they had obediently remained after Rekaterin had left, having no desire to get lost in the elaborate complex of the station.<p>

But this did nothing to prevent Deza from marching about the room complaining while Marburg calmly sat down so that he could ignore Deza in comfort.

"… it isn't normal."

Marburg sighed and took the bait. "What precisely isn't normal Inquisitor Deza?"

"What goes on in this station! Everything that idiot scientist does stretches the boundaries of our law to the breaking point! It's a wonder he hasn't done anything blatantly illegal yet…"

"Deza don't be ridiculous. The Doctor may enjoy certain… privileges, extended to him because of his usefulness, but that does not warrant condemning him as either an idiot or a traitor. In fact", Marburg stood and approached the glass, "I would say that he is about to extend to us a weapon of phenomenal usefulness."

Deza sneered, "I don't see what has you so infatuated with that abomination. The idea of using it as a weapon is absurd. Even if it worked in that way he says, we have no need of it. It's more dangerous than it's worth."

"Deza, you're attitude is going to get you in serious trouble some day."

Deza waved his hand dismissively in the air without so much as glancing back at Marburg. "Whatever."

Stillness filled the air then. Nothing was said, nothing was done, and only the small scratching from Makanis inside the cell broke through the barrier of silence.

"…ten years."

Deza had not expected the change in subject. "What are you talking about?"

"It's been ten long, long, years since you were placed under me," Marburg turned from the glass and stared at Deza, "and you still behave like a spoiled child. You're unstable, egotistical, rash, unprofessional and not nearly as brilliant as I know you think you are." Marburg stretched to his full height. "Tell me something Deza; do you know why you haven't been promoted for the last decade?"

Marburg's lip curled in satisfaction, "Because of me Deza. At every opportunity I've blocked you from rising any higher."

Marburg descended into another chair. "I've had enough, and before we go back to the ship, were the camera will be watching us, I want to be the one to inform you of where you stand in this life. It's high time that you realized that the universe will not bend to your whims." Marburg smiled with genuine pleasure, "When we return, you will be stripped of your rank and all its privileges and I'll be there to see both, because I will be the one doing it. And do you know what the best part is?"

Marburg spread his arms out wide in front of him, "The best part is that there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me."

It was only then that the explosion, the same one that had shaken Rekaterin in one of the holding units, blasted it way through the station. But this room had been closer than the holding cells, so then the effect was amplified many times over.

The lights went out and smoke filled the room. Books were thrown from shelves and the shelves themselves were toppled from the walls and onto the floor.

Then the dull orange of the emergency set the room alight.

It was only after the last of the shudders passed that Deza noticed that he was unharmed. He'd been standing by the door to the room when the shockwave had hit and had so been spared from anything more than a ringing in his ears and a slight ache in one knee from falling on it.

Marburg, on the other hand, had not been so lucky.

When the explosion struck, he'd toppled sideways in his chair. After that the shelf behind him hand fallen. Though he was sparred being completely crushed thanks to his chair he was still pinned with chest to the floor by the weight.

As soon as he was able he began struggling to get up but found he could not.

Deza saw all of this, and it gave him an idea.

"So… Inquisitor Marburg, it would strike me that you've trapped yourself in a very precarious situation."

"Just be silent Deza." He grunted. "This shelf is painfully heavy, help me lift it."

Deza faked interest and consideration of Marburg plea for a moment.

"…no… I think I have a better idea than that."

Deza mad his way to the door into Makinis's cell. "Do you recall what your said, about what Rekaterin was giving us?" He lifted his hand to the panel, "Let's see how valuable you find that creature now you pompous old fool," and pressed the keys to unseal both doors.

Inside Makinis noticed immediately and flew out of his cell in wild excitement. Then he noticed the tall ape man from before, trapped under a bookshelf…

Deza had fled from the room, slamming the door behind him before the ones from the cell were even fully unlocked.

He glanced behind only once and all he saw was a glimpse of vague writhing shapes in the dark. Without the glass in the way, he could hear the sound of Marburg screaming as he was ripped apart.

But he had no idea how long it would be before the creature tried to escape, or before the entire more bombs went off, so Deza denied himself the pleasure of watching his old superior die and ran for the ship, his ship.

But when he ran Deza failed to do one very important thing. He failed to lock the door.

* * *

><p>When the explosion had gone off Clay, Maliek, Reaves, Leo, and Aeris had been navigating the halls and were well on their way to hangar thirteen.<p>

They hadn't been running, but rather walking briskly, in case maintaining the illusion that Leo and Aeris were still simple prisoners became suddenly necessary.

To that effect Leo and Aeris had been placed in shackles similar to the ones they'd had on _The Corsair_, the difference being that these ones were not in fact activated. In addition, heavy leashes were attached to their shock collars, which had been reattached after they'd been removed from the simulator.

But after the first explosion, the easy pace they'd been setting changed.

As soon as an invisible Clay was standing he began talking to Maliek, "That was too early. We were supposed to be at the hangar before the first explosion went off."

"Then we have to run. If they get there to long before us then they'll probably assume we're dead and leave"

"Fine. Reaves, please-"

"-unhook the cats. I know."

"Leaves the cuffs and the collars on and keep the remote for them out just in case. It'll make our story a bit flimsy, but if we run into anyone you might at least be able to stall long enough for Maliek and me to take out any patrols. Let's just hope we don't run into a big group."

Then they ran.

At every empty corner they passed a silent exhale of relief was sent. Even after the explosion they were lucky enough to run into only single guards running to and fro about the station.

Each of these was quickly subdued by either Clay or Maliek then they would keep running.

All was going well until a group of guards no less than thirty guards came rushing out of a door they had already passed.

The guards instantly spotted both Leo and Aeris.

"STOP!" one of them yelled. He looked at Reaves, who was facing the opposite direction. "Identify yourself. What are you doing with these test subjects?"

Reaves straitened himself and turned around, "I am your commanding officer. Lieutenant Reaves." He gestured at the markings on his sleeves and shoulders as proof. "Now lower your weapons, I'm delivering these prisoners to somewhere more secure at the instruction of Doctor Rekaterin."

But this did not have the results Reaves had been expecting. Rather than lower their weapons, ever guard in the group suddenly had them trained directly on him.

But Reaves remained calm. "You realize the punishment for disobeying a direct order from me don't you?"

The leader of the guards, "We are under orders from Doctor Rekaterin to apprehend you and anyone you are with Lieutenant. You are _not_ our commanding officer. Now come quietly."

To Leo it seemed that the jig was up. He'd been so excited, but now he was going to lose it all again. Even with their stealth suits, Leo possessed the combat experience to appreciate that with the weapons they had they would very quickly die if they fought, and there was nowhere to run but down the hall, and they couldn't outrun bullets. Aeris thought much the same.

The small band of escapees all shared one thought in that moment, "…_we don't stand a chance."_

Or so they thought, until a door into one of the side rooms behind the guards slammed open suddenly. Only a few guards turned around and only one managed to begin a completely sentence.

"What in the name of god is that?!"

He was never to receive an answer. But he was to receive a firsthand level of understanding what the creature could do.

Makanis leapt at the man and stuck its claws up through his mask and into his jaw.

Then he ripped both off.

Blood went everywhere.

Another guard tried to shoot the monster, but missed and instead shot the jawless guard in the head, ending his pain.

Rifle fire surged from inside amid a hail of blood as the creature darted through them, butchering indiscriminately.

Reaves chose not to waste this opportunity, Hefting Leo and Aeris each in one arm he yelled in the general direction of Maliek and Clay, "Run!"

And run they did.

But in the in the carnage, Makanis saw something that caught his eye, a distinct color running for the door down the hall.

He followed.

* * *

><p>Time blurred for Leo and Aeris.<p>

Before they realized what had happened they found themselves on the maintenance ship, headed for what Maliek had described as "Their new luxury cruise home."

Leo looked at Aeris, "Hey you know what?"

"What?"

"I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"That really sucked."

* * *

><p>From the bridge of Captain Theron's new ship, <em>The Corsair<em>, a sleek, fast looking vessel completely black, Captain Theron himself watched closely as the space station was torn apart by the explosions and the vacuum of space.

In all only five ships escaped, the rest were in pieces, drifting through space aimlessly.

Of those that escaped one was the Paloridian vessel he'd seen docking before, another was the maintenance ship he knew his crew to be aboard, and three escape pos scattered in different directions.

The weapons master on duty cocked his head towards the captain. "Shall we fire on any of the escape pods sir?"

Cutler didn't' take his eyes off the screen displaying the wreckage for a moment. "No, we don't want to alert the Paloridian ship to our presence, besides, there's no real reason to destroy the escape pods, we've done what we came for. Now prepare to accept passengers."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's been two months, two long long months since my last chapter.**

**I know it probably felt like I abandoned you but I promise that's not what it was. I've been working very hard to make this chapter perfect and it unexpectedly turned into this ten thousand word chapter.  
><strong>

**I really hope you enjoy it and rest assured that I'm not finished yet, not nearly finished. This story is about to take an entirely different turn.  
><strong>

**But now I have to get to my next project, a collab some of us have been doing (though I feel guilty that I haven't because I've been working on this)  
><strong>

**Sadly I must dash, even now I am hurriedly typing this before a very long drive to city of LA for a five day trip to take care of some things.  
><strong>

**Until we meet again, I hope that my longest chapter to date (Whoo! Ten thousand plus words!) is satisfactory.  
><strong>


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Corollary Fates

**Chapter Eighteen: Corollary Fates**

* * *

><p>From the control bay, Captain Theron had watched the service vessel land in his ship and seen what, and more importantly, who was unloaded.<p>

It gave him pause.

Displeasure was not the word. Calculative would have been more fitting as he evaluated what he saw and processed the advantages, disadvantages, and implications that it presented.

After a brief meditation he ordered that Clay and Maliek be brought to his quarters briefly and that a single room be prepared to house his two new "guests".

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Leo and Aeris were in a daze, being led off the maintenance ship that had facilitated their escape and onto <em>"The Corsair",<em> which clay described as "Their new Oh So Cozy home".

But while they walked the unfamiliar halls Aeris thought to ask, in a very tired voice, "Where are we going?"

Maliek answered, gently pushing her along with a gingerly placed hand. "Going to see the captain now. Don't worry, you're gunna be just fine."

"Oh… alright," was all Aeris said.

She trudged along tiredly, just as before, until the group that surrounded her and Leo finally stopped in front of one last door.

Maliek placed a hand on Leo and Aeris's shoulders and pulled them in. "Now listen close you two. When we go in you're staying out here. You won't have to say anything unless the captain asks to talk to you. But Clay's going to say most of what needs saying, so you should be covered. Then we can go get you a room and you can rest. Everything making sense?"

The pair nodded silently, evidently too detached from the situation to validate it with a response.

"Good."

Maliek looked up to see Clay waiting for a sign to move forward, he nodded and Clay stepped up to the door.

* * *

><p>Inside Cutler Theron heard a knock, followed by the sound of his door creaking open.<p>

He saw his first mate and Armourer walk wordlessly through the threshold into the room. They paced forward until they were standing a respectable distance from him.

Theron stepped up from behind a table covered in holographic charts made to look like ordinary paper on top of an ordinary wooden table. Theron's eyes looked sharp as razors when they locked onto his officers. "…so you decided to disobey my orders then Clay?"

Maliek stepped forward. "No captain, we did as ordered. Everything was done just like you said…. we just did more than what you asked."

Theron turned his gaze onto his Armourer. "Maliek be quite. I wasn't talking to you. And you 'did' disobey me. I don't remember saying at any point to "feel free to blatantly ramble about the space station, causing all kinds of disturbances to rescue some random cats because you felt guilty."

Clay stepped forward in Maliek's defense. "Captain, Maliek holds no responsibility for this. I'm to blame, I gave him his orders and he followed."

Theron rolled his eyes back to Clay. "I see… so you mean to tell me that none of this is anyone's fault but yours?

There was a fraction of a second of reluctance before Clay answered, "…yes."

Theron sighed sadly and closed one eye while he stroked his eyebrow back and forth. "…you're a good man Clay, and a better leader, but you need to learn to cut your losses. If something had gone wrong while you were satisfying your conscience then this whole fiasco would've ended in disaster… you're just lucky that didn't happen."

Clay's gaze never wavered and his face leaked no emotion.

Theron's leaked plenty, but to the surprise of Maliek and Clay, the emotion was positive.

"Now with that said, the mission wasn't a disaster; the station is gone, no-one was seriously injured among the crew, and to top it all off you recovered our stolen merchandise."

Malik stood up straighter, looking worried. "Merchandise, Captain?"

Clay too seemed to have become concerned. "Captain, I think that it might be unwise to sell them at this point, especially when we consider what just transpired."

Theron saw the looks on either of his subordinates' faces. "Look at the two of you. You look like you're afraid that I'm going to murder them in their sleep tonight. "

He shook his head. "You've got no reason to worry; I have no intention of selling them this time. The situation you've put us in…. is unique, but not necessarily in bad way. There is potential here. We stand a lot to gain, them and us, if we play our hand well."

Theron's eyes shifted to Maliek. "Even so, we have an issue to deal with now that requires contending. Maliek-"

"Yes sir."

"Since it seems that our days of poaching are more or less finished, your secondary position as jailer seems a little unnecessary, doesn't it?"

"Yes sir, I suppose so."

Theron smiled. "I'm glad we agree. Now I've been thinking about this, since we can't have our new feline friends wandering aimlessly about the ship unsupervised, and since you seem to have shown such an interest in their wellbeing, I think it fitting you be assigned the role of caretaker for our new… guests."

Maliek smiled. "I'll do it happily captain."

Theron snapped. "I don't care how you do it, as long as it gets done."

Despite the harshness of the phrase, Theron was smiling. Maliek noticed.

"Of course sir. Thank you sir."

Theron waved away Maliek's gratitude and turned back to his chair, trying to seem cantankerous. "Yes, yes, now go and show them to their quarters, I've already sent someone to show you the way, Clay and I still have some matters to discuss."

* * *

><p>Outside the room Leo and Aeris patiently swayed back and forth while waiting.<p>

In his boredom, Leo began looking around. When he found nothing interesting his eye was drawn to the tall man standing behind him.

"Say… weren't you the guy who helped us get out?"

Reaves, who was indeed that person, smiled down at the little cat thing. "That's right."

"How come you aren't in the room with the other guys."

Reaves shrugged, "If I was going to guess, it would probably be because I'm not actually part of the crew."

"Oh…"

Leo looked confused for a moment while he pondered this. But the moment passed quickly. "Well thanks for saving us anyway."

Reaves chuckled, "Any time little man."

Aeris snorted.

Leo turned to her. "What is it Aeris."

"Nothing," Aeris spat, bitterly. "I'm just not _thrilled _about being "saved" by the same guy who was keeping us prisoner."

Reaves looked down at Aeris with a hint of sadness.

Leo looked confused. He turned back to Reaves, "so if you're the same guy tell me why you helped break us out?"

Reaves was about to explain when he was interrupted by Maliek coming through the door leading out of the briefing room.

Aeris stepped forward and tried to look inside before clay shut the door behind him. "So what's going on in there?"

Maliek rubbed his hands and looked worried. "Well there's good news and there's bad news."

Aeris's face adopted the same worried expression as Maliek's. "What's the bad news?"

Maliek dropped the facade and smiled mischievously. "Well the bad news is that clay is probably getting chewed out for going against orders and saving the two of you." Maliek's smile widened. "The good news is that you two can stay and that I-", Maliek puffed out his chest in exaggerated pride, "-have been assigned as your caretaker until the captain decides that you two can wander about without causing any kind of problems."

Aeris's expression went through phases of anger at Maliek for his teasing, to relief and happiness that they could stay and were, for the first time in what must have been eternity, safe, to finally an expression of false dismay.

"But that means we'll never get to go anywhere without you following us, Leo's a walking disaster. There's no way any captain would trust him to do anything."

Leo interjected, "Hey, I'm not that bad. In fact I'm brilliant, but no one else is smart enough to realize that."

Maliek chuckled, "Oh I'm sure of that." Then he turned and waved for Leo and Aeris to follow. "Now if you'll just come this way I'll be showing you to the luxury suite, equipped with all the amenities of home."

Aeris grumbled, "I seriously doubt that."

* * *

><p>They followed Maliek through interior of the ship, spying many different rooms that clearly had some indiscernible function, until at last he stopped in front of another airtight door with a hatch wheel for a doorknob.<p>

With a flamboyant wave of his hand and a dramatic bow of the waist, Maliek motioned that they enter. "My Lord, My Lady, I give you… the luxury suite."

Aeris rolled her eyes and started spinning the hatch wheel. When it stopped spinning with a solid clank Aeris pulled on the handle welded to the side to open the door.

To her irritation, the door didn't budge, so she yanked at it.

The door still didn't move.

Aeris growled audibly and punched the door angrily.

A fraction of a second later, Aeris realized her mistake. In that same second, the pain registered in her brain.

"Yeow!"

Aeris recoiled, shaking her hand to relieve the pain while she cringed.

Propelled by the force of Aeris's punch, the door smoothly drifted inward. After three inches, it drifted back shut with a creek, seeming to laugh at Aeris and her bruised hand.

After shoving her hand under her armpit, Aeris lifted her foot and kicked in the door with all the force she could generate.

With a satisfied grumble she stormed past Leo and Maliek into the room.

The moment they thought she couldn't see them, they both looked at each other and shrugged, following behind into the little room.

Not a second later, Leo collapsed onto the nearest flat surface and caved into sleep. He was exhausted.

By lucky coincidence he happened to fall in a bed.

Aeris stared at Leo sprawling, then without looking, asked Maliek a question. "How long has it been?"

Maliek stepped over Leo to cover him in a blanket folded at the foot of the bed, "About three cycles."

"Cycles?"

Maliek straitened himself, "Period of twenty five hours. Ever since we started colonizing other planets, working on each planets solar clock didn't make sense anymore. So we switched to cycles of twenty five hours. Since hours and minutes don't change with the sun, it works."

Aeris kept staring. "…three days, that's all it's been?"

Maliek came up from behind her with a new blanket and draped it over her shoulders. "It's surprising isn't it; feels like it should have been longer."

Aeris stood misty eyed examining the room, lost in thought. She pulled the blanket up her shoulders. "… yes."

Maliek spared Aeris a glance before he left and recognized the expression on her face. Her eyes looked like glass, staring at nothing now.

There was little Maliek could think to do, so he left Aeris only with a suggestion, "You should get some sleep…you might need it worse than he does."

Aeris came out of her daze for a moment and looked at Maliek. She gave him a halfhearted smile, "Yeah. With this nightmare over, maybe I'll finally be able to do that."

Maliek smiled back from the doorway, "That's the spirit. Now off with you, I'll wake you up when it's time to meet the captain. The door'll be guarded until then, but I'll be nearby if you need me."

Aeris turned back to the wall and Leo. "Okay. See you whenever."

Maliek shut the door behind him, still concerned, but not overly so. Aeris would be fine.

* * *

><p>Despite how she felt, sleep found Aeris easily. But for her, rest was still some way away.<p>

After long hours of tossing and turning in bed, Aeris's torment had yet to finish.

He was gone from her life, but in her mind, his evil flourished.

In a blank, white, empty space, Rekaterin stepped forward, emerging from nowhere, walking down nonexistent steps, talking all the way down.

"Welcome my dear… to reality..." He spun a ball of silver from the emptiness with a circular motion of his wrist, letting it drift above his fingers as it morphed into gruesome figurines, depictions of horror and torture of a twisted and evil sort.

Rekaterin looked around, then down at the ball, admiring his own reflection against its misshapen surface. "It's beautiful…," his eyes reached up**, **impaling her soul with them like twin spikes of ice, "…isn't it?"

Aeris backtracked away from Rekaterin. "NO! You're dead. You're gone. We're gone. We were free! How are you still here?!"

Rekaterin followed her, step for step keeping pace. "Because I never left Aeris… _you_ never left."

"No…no that isn't right", she whispered to herself, shaking her head, trying to clear it.

His mirthless laughter rang out inside her head, taunting.

Aeris closed her eyes and shook her head furiously, trying to clear it of the sound.

She turned her head to look forward again, and he was standing there, in front of her, just as real as she could imagine..

There was a moment of stillness, where Aeris swayed and her eyes met Rekaterin's. Then it occured to her that she should run.

But as if he'd read her mind, Rekaterin smirked. "No no no, _you_ are going nowhere…"

Aeris felt something inside of her grow queasy, then she dropped like a stone, hands clutching her sides. "This… can't be real, "she gasped between waves of pain. "I… watched it happen…"

Rekaterin chortled, "I'm afraid not, all just more tricks and games. But we do have some things to look forward to don't we?"

She lifted her hands from her side, pressing them against her ears to block him out, "No! You're lying!"

"Am I…" Rekaterin shook his head. "You must think that mustn't you. What else could you do…" The ball was shifting again now. Slowly its surface sank downward, the edges thinned until it finally created the shape of a glass, one filled with red liquid.

Rekaterin swirled the device in his hand, creating a small whirlpool, then slowly he lifted it to his lips.

The glass came away.

Aeris convulsed, vomiting.

As she wiped the bile from her lips with barely responsive hands she screamed, "What did you do?!"

Rekaterin smiled and looked at the glass. "Now now, is that any way to talk to me?"

The glass came up again.

Blood began streaming from her mouth, flowing until it streamed over her tongue and out her lips with that revolting metallic flavor mixed with a smell of decay.

She couldn't stop it.

Aeris was brought from her knees to all fours as the blood pooled around her.

She begged, despairingly, "please…. stop!"

The cup came up again. "We aren't finished yet."

The blood came faster, now from her nose, then her eyes.

It was filling her throat, building pressure behind her eyes, spilling from her mouth and nose is a powerful stream.

For every breath she took she only chocked, hacking and instinctively trying to breath, only to pull in more until he blood filled her lungs.

She couldn't even scream.

She reached for her throat.

Her fingers reached in, went down to stop it, but Aeris convulsed on the ground and the blood kept coming.

It was agony.

Finally, with a monstrously evil smile, Rekaterin drained the glass. Aeris felt herself die as blood forced its way out from her very skin, bathing her in it, swelling until she was coming apart at the seams.

She would have cried, she would have screamed, she would have begged and pleaded, anything to make it stop.

The blood came.

Aeris shuddered and twitched in death, the lights of her consciousness dimming in the cold embrace of her own life's blood.

"Isn't it fun Aeris…" Rekaterin drank anew from the glass. "I've always loved watching this part."

Aeris barely managed to lift a hand. The blood blinded her, but she could still hear him in her head.

Before the end Aeris whispered out in her mind, ".…why?"

Leo's voice responded beside her. "…because you're dreaming Aeris."

His voice came again, "You're dreaming Aeris….." and again, "…..wake up…. Wake Up…. WAKE UP!"

Aeris gasped, pulling a violent burst of air into her lungs, and opened her eyes to see Leo standing over her, shaking her furiously, shouting at her.

For almost two seconds Aeris didn't move while Leo looked over her with concern, no longer shouting now that he saws her eyes were open.

Her heart was racing, her chest heaving under the labor of her breath, which came in sharp painful gasps. That was all she could manage. Her chest felt tight, like someone was gripping her heart and throat from the inside, squeezing it. Every heartbeat pounded against her head.

She'd undressed mostly before going to sleep, but her fur was soaked in an uncomfortable damp sweat. She felt cold and tense and moving was difficult. She felt frozen.

But as the moments slipped by, Aeris felt heat rush through her veins.

It spread all through her body until she felt uncomfortably hot, feverish.

She found that she could move again. In that instant, Aeris shot up from bed and snatched Leo, pulling him close. She searched him desperately, taking in every bit of him, her hands roaming his face, his shoulders, his back, his hair, until she was sure that he wasn't just another dream.

It was Leo, and when Aeris knew she just managed to make the smallest painful sound before she buried her face in his shoulder. "Oh thank god, Leo. Leo I was… oh god I can't stand it. I feel like my insides are going to come out through my throat."

Leo, true to his nature, took things in stride.

Aeris felt a hand gently placing itself against her back, then slowly, another reaching up to stroke her hair.

Then, with the softest impact, she felt Leo resting his head against hers.

She felt his fur, brushing against her own, and his breath, tickling her ear each time it whispered from his lips, causing her ear to shake. She felt the heat of his pulse in his neck. She felt the rise and fall of his chest, his heart beating against hers.

And in a rare insightful moment, Leo knew just what to say.

Nothing.

* * *

><p>For a long time they held each other this way. Aeris clinging to Leo, her eyes held shut as she pressed herself against his warmth, until the frigid memories melted away, Leo holding her tight, wishing that the feeling of her would never leave him.<p>

But the moment passed.

* * *

><p>When they were next to each other on her bed, close enough to touch, Leo finally asked what the dream had been.<p>

Next to him, Aeris visibly quaked. Her eyes closed tight again.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Leo was about to let the matter drop when Aeris spoke again.

She was looking at the floor, then she sighed in defeat, her shoulders dropping, "…it was Rekaterin," She pressed her palms against the sides of her head, her voice rose, "I can't get away from him! No matter where I go he's standing behind me, watching me, like a fucking ghost! Now he's even in my dreams!"

Leo's ears fell back. His expression grew heavy as he tried to console his partner, "Rekaterin's dead Aeris, we saw the station explode and everything."

Aeris hadn't looked up. "You don't know that. He could have been on any of those escape pods."

Leo shrugged, "Does it even matter? He's gone."

Aeris looked up, her eyes filled with hatred. She grabbed Leo's shoulders and shook him. "You don't get it do you?! You have no idea what it felt like, what it still feels like! I… I can't stand it anymore Leo…," Aeris let her hands fall from Leo's shoulders, staring down into his lap where the fell. "You're right Leo. Now that he's gone, I should finally be able to let go, but I can't…"She turned away from him, "You just don't get it. "

Leo scooted closer. "But I do get it Aeris, I was there… I watched you die… I watched you, right in front of me…"

Aeris realized her insensitivity then. She gripped the sheets of her bed tightly. She turned her face further away in shame. "Leo I'm sorry, I didn't m-"

"But it doesn't matter-"Leo interrupted.

Aeris felt his hand press against her cheek and pull her eyes up to meet his**. **

"We're free, alive, and together. You came back and we escaped. That's the end of the story. We can be happy now, and I really want us to be happy together, it's lonely when it's just me." He smiled. "Do you think you can manage that little favor for me?"

Aeris's eyes shimmered in the dim light. A smile slipped past her lips.

When Leo saw both, he grinned happily back. "Wonderful. In that case, I think we should both be getting some sl-"

But Aeris wasn't finished yet, before Leo had a chance to stand, she reached out and pulled him back towards her….

* * *

><p>Even Aeris was unsure of her intention when she grabbed him, but once she had her confidence dwindled. Unfortunately for her, the move as made, and Leo was now lying on top her wearing nothing but his boxers and the fiery blush rising to his cheeks.<p>

Leo's voice sounded strained, "Ahhhh, Aeris?"

"Y-yes?" Aeris felt heat flooding her own cheeks. They must have been a deep shade of crimson at the very least.

"Are going to tell me why you just pulled me onto the bed?"

"No…"Aeris was flustered. "I mean yes." She pushed Leo off of her until they were both sitting. "I uhhh, wanted to thank you."

"Ohhhh…" Leo raised his chin in slow understanding, his lips shaping a circle around the word "Oh". He leveled his gaze back on Aeris with a toothy smile. "Aeris, aren't you being a little hasty. Couldn't we just cuddle?"

It was about then that Leo's face was made victim to an extremely painful slap. He laughed as he rubbed his cheek. "I regret nothing!"

Aeris, with her eyes rolling, "I almost didn't."

Aeris stood up and let drop the sheet that'd been more or less covered her the entire time, exposing her purple t-shirt but otherwise bare figure. "I'm going to go take a bath, because I feel plain nasty right now."

It was Leo's turn to be stricken. "I ahh… you emmm… ?"

Aeris smirked and swung her hips while she walked. She turned around and struck a pose. "What's the matter Leo-" She drew Leo's nose in with her tail and flicked it, lacing it back to playfully cover what little wasn't on display, "-are you trying to say something?"

Before he could answer Aeris laughed her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Leo's stuttering had devolved to complete babble as he watched Aeris's silhouette disappear behind the bathroom door. Then Leo felt the rising pressure in his shorts accompanied by a very strong urge to- "Ahhh, fuck!"

* * *

><p>Inside the bathroom Aeris was just running the tap when Leo shouted. She heard nothing.<p>

Only the bathtub and the mirror were allowed to see the warm smile Aeris was wearing as she slipped herself into the tub.

A soft moan of pleasure flickered to life as she felt the warm water soaking into her fur, almost teasing thee skin underneath with its soft caress. She shuddered as goose bumps rose everywhere the water touched.

With that Aeris sank completely into the water like her bones were made of jelly.

"Ooooh… now _that's_ good," she purred.

* * *

><p>In the other room, Leo looked down at himself and back up at the door to the bathroom, and thought of how tightly Aeris had been pressing herself against him.<p>

He pursed his lips and huffed_. "Hmmm, that… could have ended badly." _

Leo shuddered just thinking about that pose, or those legs, or that voice she'd used on him, or that cute little a-

Leo shook his head, accepting that Aeris had no further need of him, and resigned himself to a lonely night; searching for something to distract from his… pressures.

Sure enough, he found it.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later Aeris left the bathroom, wearing a thin olive green affair she'd found hanging on the door to the bathroom, one of two that must have been left for them.<p>

When she left she was expecting to have to change her sheets to get rid of the sweat, but to her surprise she found her bed already made, in a sense.

It looked as though Leo had attempted to do her a favor, the result of which was the messiest looking made bed Aeris had ever seen. But the sheets were clean at least.

She appreciated the thought.

Leo, she saw, was snoring away on his bed. It seemed he was more tired than he'd let on while acting as her living teddy bear.

The thought of it sent both warmth and a shiver through her heart. She wasn't sure which gave her goose bumps. The prospect of sleep was admittedly a little daunting after her ordeal.

Of course Aeris wasn't truly afraid, but then, what if she had another nightmare? What if she woke up alone and Leo wasn't there? What of all the effort it would take to make her bed properly?

And here was Leo, drifting peacefully away in his bed, a bed that was made. Aeris pondered this.

She shrugged; there could be little harm in the idea. So she quickly snuck up to Leo.

Then she very carefully lifted the sheets and moved Leo over just a little.

He snorted.

Aeris flinched, and held completely still.

Nothing happened.

Aeris exhaled with relief, unaware that she'd been holding her breath, then she ever so softly slipped into to bed next to Leo.

Aeris moved the covers over herself, smiling over her success.

But before going to sleep, she looked over at Leo.

It was strange to think how much better he'd made her feel moments ago, lifting her first from the nightmare and then from how she felt, providing her with something to hold on to. In a way, he'd saved her, just as he'd tried so desperately to do in the simulation.

She remembered how he'd looked when she found him standing over her remains, like he'd been shattered to pieces, alone and without a friend in the world. Even trying to imagine what he must have felt made her eyes sting with the beginnings of tears.

But then there was the way his eyes had lit up and the smile he'd given her before barreling into her with that insane hug and the kisses that followed.

After a small and happy sniffle, Aeris wiped her face of an entirely different sort of tear and snuggled close to Leo. Then she wrapped one of his arms around herself and planted a little kiss on Leo's nose.

"Goodnight Leo."

Almost entirely asleep Leo muttered happily in response, "Mferr, love you too."

To this Aeris simply rubbed her face against him, appreciating his warmth and the way his fur tickled her cheeks.

In that moment, neither of them could have possibly been happier.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Some of my best writing I believe, pity it took me so long.**

**I'm sorry about that. I make no excuse, but I believe the result speaks for itself. This chapter I think is one not to be sniffed at. I've loved writing it, every bit of it.**

**We've finally started anew, and with this change there will come a whole new set of rules to the little game Leo and Aeris have been unwillingly pressed into playing.**

**Fear not though, I have already started the next chapter and the plot is not uncertain to me. Surprises await for all, even myself.**

**Remain stupendous audience and thank you so very much for your patience.**


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Making Acquaintances

**Chapter Eighteen: Making acquaintances**

* * *

><p>With every ounce of energy long since spent, Leo and Aeris slept beautifully in each other's arms.<p>

For hours not a sound interrupted the rhythm of their breathing; apart from the never ending hum of the ship itself.

Time tip toed by, careful not to wake anyone, until a few soft raps against the steel door rang from outside.

Maliek's voice, "Hello in there, time to get up, Captain's called you."

He received no response. So this time he knocked harder, three solid pounds against the door. "Hellooo, can anyone hear me?"

And still, there was no answer.

Sighing, Maliek opened the door, "I know you're both in here, now would you please- oh….."

He quickly, quietly, shut the door, then turned around and leaned against it. Pursing his lips in thought, "I guess five more minutes couldn't hurt…. naw, let 'em sleep."

Five minutes came and went.

Maliek reluctantly moved for the door. At first he was tentative, but a moment before he was about to slip in he changed tactics and slammed the door open and shouted merrily his greeting, "Rise and shine you two! You've been summoned by Cap'n Theron!"

What had a moment ago been a comfortably embracing couple transformed into something more like a flailing heap of inconveniently placed limbs.

The sheet came off at some point and slumped into a sad little sideways pile at the foot of the bed while its former occupants clumsily separated.

Leo ended up propped up on his right arm looking over Aeris's shoulder while she lifted her legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

She was first to respond to Maliek with a groggy inquiry. "What the fuck?" She rubbed the sleep from one eye, "What time is it?"

Maliek glanced at what appeared to be nothing but an ordinary watch, "It's ahhh…. Four hours into the new cycle. Mid morning-ish I s'pose."

A low rumbling gathered in Aeris's upper throat and escaped as a growl, "What's hewant?"

Maliek, shrugging indifferently, "Don't know details, just got the message-" He tapped the wrist watch meaningfully. "-but it's about what we decide to do with you two, so hop to it!"

And with that he turned around and slammed the door behind himself. "I'll be outside when you're ready to go."

For a moment no one moved until Leo at last realized that Aeris was in his bed, "Ummm, Aeris? What are you-"

Aeris, inexplicably adopting Maliek's sense of urgency, sprang from bed "We don't have time for this. I'll explain later, just get dressed."

Leo looked around, then back at Aeris. "In what?"

Aeris pointed at the entryway to their shared bathroom. "In there. There are these green outfits like mine."

"But those are girls clothes!"

"No they aren't you idiot, they're unisex."

Leo opened his mouth, then closed it, then sat thinking, and at last said, "…I'm not really into that kind of thing Aeris… this isn't one of your fanfictions…."

Aeris blinked, processing the stupidity.

Leo was then forcibly gripped by the throat and thrown into the bathroom.

"Just get fucking dressed already!"

"Alright alright, sheesh…." Muttering to himself, "Guess it's _that_ time of the month again."

Aeris pounded on the door. "What was that?"

Leo scrambled for the clothes hanging on the wall opposite the sink, to the left of the door. "Nothing, just appreciating art."

"What art?"

"My reflection."

"Oh for the love of- I'm coming in there!"

* * *

><p>Moments later Aeris stepped out of her shared room and stood in front of Maliek armed with only a tepid stare. "The beauty queen is going to be a minute. It would have been less, but he figured out how to lock the door before I could get into the bathroom."<p>

Maliek, "We're aren't in a big hurry."

"Then why did you make big the entrance?"

Maliek shrugged and tried not to smile, with moderate success. "Caught ye'cuddlin'. Didn't want to interrupt."

Aeris, taken completely off guard, became immediately indignant. "We weren't _cuddling!_ That was definitely _not _cuddling!"

Maliek., without the least bit of sarcasm, "Okay."

Aeris, surprised by how quickly he'd believed her, "That's it? Just… Okay?"

"Yep…"

Aeris, "Well… okay then, I guess that's settled."

"Guess it is."

Aeris narrowed her eyes slightly and flattened one ear to the side and asked in an unusual looking half-frown, "You aren't much of a conversationalist are you?"

Maliek, "I can be, but sometimes people don't want to talk about things. It isn't my business to pry."

Aeris, "That's a surprisingly sound philosophy."

Maliek tipped an imaginary hat by simply raising to fingers to his right eyebrow, "Thanks, I appreciate that, you don't seem like the type what gives compliments easy."

Before Aeris had time to respond, politely or otherwise, Leo threw the door leading into their room open, resplendent in his green pajamas, and announced himself in the only way he thought appropriate. "Bow before my infinite sexiness!"

Aeris leapt a solid six inches off the ground in surprise. When she landed she whirled back around was about to slap Leo across the face.

Naturally, Leo flinched, and that was when Aeris saw the still visible scar where Rekaterin had cut him. Back on the station Rekaterin's assistants had applied a kind of salve to the wound. It hadn't stopped the bleeding right then, but on the ship it had been reduced to an inflamed scar, and now was little more than a pink line beneath his fur.

Still, she didn't hit him.

She sighed, "Don't _do _that Leo."

Then as soon as Leo stopped flinching she hit the other side of his face instead.

Leo, rubbing his left cheek, "_Owww!_ This just isn't a good week to be my face, is it?"

Aeris snickered, then faced Maliek again. "So are we going?"

Maliek, "Yes."

The cats looked at him to lead the way expectantly.

And so they began walking.

* * *

><p>The trip to what Maliek would refer to only as "The War Room" was short and in minutes they were in front of the door.<p>

Maliek turned around. "This is it. Cap'n'll be waiting in there. If you can, try not to make him angry…."

Aeris sneered smugly, "No promises."

Maliek shrugged, "Have it your way."

And so Maliek opened the door and allowed his followers to enter before him.

Inside the room was poorly lit, only the large holographic screens covering nearly the entire upper half of the back walls provided any light. What remained of the walls was covered, surprisingly, in books.

What first drew the attention of Leo, who like Aeris was without shoes, was the fact that the room was carpeted. He looked at his feet and saw that the carpet was blue, with spiraling gold patterns lining its borders.

Aeris, meanwhile, noticed that further in a clear desk, supported by obsidian black pillars, set in a position as to be directly facing the door stood in front a tall backed chair facing the integrated holographic screen on her right.

Both Leo and Aeris slowed their pace until they were about halfway into the room, at which point they felt an unsettling sense of familiarity.

Leo, "Aeris, does this remind you a bit of-"

Aeris, finishing his sentence, "-Rekaterin's office? Yes. And I don't like it."

Theron, the chair's occupant, didn't look away from the screen that partially illuminated his face, "That's a pity, but considering what must have been your experience, I can't say I'm surprised."

The Captain rose from his chair and turned to give Leo and Aeris a welcoming nod. Then he looked at the ceiling and ordered in a firm voice, "Lights."

The room was immediately filled with a warm yellow glow from rustic lamps built into the shelves. Though the light made little difference to Leo and Aeris, the look of the room still seemed out of place for such a futuristic vessel, well lit or not.

Oblivious to their thinking, Theron, positioned the chair so that he could lean again the back of it casually.

From where they stood, Leo and Aeris truly took in what there host looked like for the first time.

He was tall, noticeably so, standing at what must have been at least six foot three. He had pale grey eyes to match the stubble that lined the lower half of his triangular jaw. Steel grey hair was pulled tight into a ponytail so short it didn't even reach the back of his neck. He had thin lips and narrow eyebrows the same color as his hair. His eyes were a shade of grey resembling pale stone. At that moment his expression conveyed a sense of mild disinterest with the situation at hand. In all he looked somewhat birdlike, predatory, and not in the least bit warm or inviting.

After the lights went on Theron spoke in a leveled ton, "I hope that the similarities to Rekaterin's former office don't disrupt your focus, because I had you brought here to give you the chance to prove that either of you might be useful."

Aeris was confused by Theron's phrasing. "Useful for what?

Theron waved his hand. "I'll explain. This is the situation. When Clay decided to stage his "rescue" he did so without my permission. When he returned, I was not prepared for two new passengers. So, I need to understand what I'm dealing with."

Aeris, "We aren't dangerous if that's what you mean. And if you need us to work that's fine with me."

Leo raised his hand. "You will find my cooking skills prolific, captain."

Theron looked Leo over and covered his mouth with his hand, thoughtfully, but with skepticism. He held the elbow of that arm with his free hand.

"To his credit, he is pretty good….," Aeris confessed.

Theron, still skeptically, "I don't doubt you, well I do, but that's unimportant…. I already have a cook and an idea of what you can each do for me. But I need to know, Aeris, if your skills make the grade."

Aeris, a little disturbed, "How did you know my-"

Theron smirked and sat down in his comfortable looking chair, "It's what your grey friend called you. I made an educated guess. So, again, what are you good at, Aeris?"

Without thinking Aeris tried to answer, "Yes, well I… shit…" She bizarrely drew a blank under Theron's piercing eye. "Well I'm good at killing people," she tried, hopefully.

Theron and Maliek looked at each other and chuckled.

Aeris grew impatient and her tone took a biting edge. "What's so damn funny?"

Theron chuckled a second time. "It's nothing, it's just that - well we don't exactly have a designated "killer of people", we're all pretty good at that. Though I'll give credit where it's due, you gave me a run for my money back on the reserve. They aren't many who can fight a well-trained, invisible, opponent and _almost_ come out on top."

He hadn't stressed the "almost" enough to be a taunt, but it was still there, tickling at what it meant to be. Like the lightest pin-prick.

It took Aeris a full half second to understand what Theron meant, and when she did, she exploded, "That was you?!"

Theron narrowed his eyes. "Yes…"

"Then you're the cause of all this!? It's _your _fault!"

Theron, flatly, "No."

"What do you mean no?!"

Theron's tone became apologetic. "You were never supposed to be sold to the Doctor." He shook his head. "Clay was forced into leaving you."

Aeris crossed her arms, but finally reduced her volume. "I knew that. And it's not what I'm pissed about either. What _he _did is just fine with me, but if it wasn't for _you _that would never have even been an _issue._"

Theron's voice was slowly becoming steely. "Allow me to make something clear. I'm very sorry for what happened to you-"

Aeris interrupted. "-I don't give a damn! You're responsible for every nightmare we've been submitted to, so you can take damn your apology and jam it up your-"

Theron's face contorted with rage. He smashed his fist against the desk and practically exploded, "-_QUIIIET!"_

Leo and Aeris's sensitive ears both physically hurt at the sound of Theron's yelling. As a reflex they both clutch their ears and winced.

Aeris was rendered mute and was, for a moment, was genuinely afraid.

Theron leaned forward in his chair with his palms flat on the desk, still seething.

He gestured at himself. "I am going to speak now, so listen closely," He pointed a finger at them, moving it slowly between Leo and Aeris, "And If either of you interrupt I will fire you into the engines and you will burn a brief silent death in the vacuum of space." He sat back in his chair. "Nod if you understand."

Both Aeris and Leo nodded slowly, slowly.

Theron's expression returned to its previous, and much less alarming, look of relative disinterest, though his nostrils still flared slightly more than before.

His shoulders slumped and he began rubbing his right eyebrow with his index finger. "Good."

He closed his eyes and continued stroking the one eyebrow. In a reserved, more apologetic, timbre, "Honestly, I very much regret the decision to let you on that station…," his right hand stopped rubbing his brow and shaped a fist, which he leaned his cheek against, "It was a mistake…."

Theron's eyes opened and he slammed his gaze into Leo and Aeris, "But, I am prepared to make amends. I am prepared to house you, provide you with work, pay, and hide you from the largest and most feared regime in human history. But what I demand in exchange is respect." He leaned forward again and propped his elbows on the desk, folding his fingers and resting his chin on them. "You may ask questions now, if you have them."

Aeris raised her voice, tentatively, "What happens… if we don't accept…"

Theron shrugged. "Then you can leave at the next port. I won't let you stay if you don't earn it."

Aeris didn't respond immediately.

Theron recognized her indecision. "Look-", he opened his hands, "-I don't care either way, but… if I were in your position, I would be thinking about the fact that I haven't got food, money, water, friends, and no way to get any of that without risking exposing my species to a society that would either sell me into servitude for the rest of my life…,"he arched an eyebrow, "-or hand me over to a government that would put me to death for the crime of existing. From where I'm sitting, my offer seems like a happy alternative, don't you think?"

Aeris considered, factoring in everything from what she'd just heard to the dark pool of memories from the past few days. Rekaterin's "experiments" came flooding back and she thought of the prospect of entering the culture that gave birth to his madness.

She looked at Leo at first with the question in her eyes. Should they?

Leo nodded, vigorously, and they reach an understanding. This was the only logical choice, at last for the time being.

But that still didn't mean Aeris liked it.

She sighed, and gave Theron a wary sideways look. "Alright… you have a deal."

Theron's expression softened noticeably and he broke into a surprisingly genuine looking smile. "I'm glad you've evaluated the situation rationally. You may consider yourselves members of the crew. However, I'm afraid we don't have time for a party, because I have to get back to some things-," he turned around to look at the monitors that still flashed with incomprehensible digits and symbols, "-like running the ship for instance.

He turned slightly and glanced at the pair of cats who looked rather confused about how they felt about their situation over his shoulder. "You were probably too tired yesterday to remember, but as I can't have you wandering my ship unsupervised I did appoint you a caretaker, and until further notice, that policy remains in place."

Leo's ears flopped to one side, as did the rest of his head. "A caretaker?"

Theron, who had turned back to the monitors, smiled to himself while he ran some mental figures on a deal he was about to broker. "Well, supervisor slash informant might be a more accurate phrase, but I don't think you need to worry. I'm almost entirely sure that you'll approve of my choice."

Maliek seized the opening and clapped a hand enthusiastically on Aeris and Leo's shoulders. "I hope so, you might hurt my feelings if you don't."

Aeris blinked in disbelief. "You? You're going to be "supervising" us."

Maliek grinned all the wider. "That I am"

Leo proffered an open hand to Aeris, sporting his own standard smirking grin. "You know what, I'm okay with this."

Aeris frowned and shifted her lips to the side in grumpy sort of pout, but she conceded, "Could be worse… I guess…"

Maliek shrugging off Aeris's comment with hardly a though. "Take what you can get."

He left whether he was referring to what Aeris had said or lording the fact that she had no choice in the matter ambiguous.

Whatever the case, he smirked, "Don't worry, I'll grow on you."

Theron, who had been merely observing between calculations, followed up Maliek's statement. "That will have to do. Now if you would all, please, leave…."

They did as asked, and Maliek herded the two cats from the room.

After the door shut Theron was left alone in the silence of the room.

He paused momentarily. It was so quiet one might have heard the slow rhythm of his heartbeat across the table.

He sighed grimly to himself. "…This is going to be an unpleasant transition for those two… _very_ unpleasant…"

He looked at the ceiling.

"Lights."

And the room descended again into darkness.

* * *

><p>At roughly the same moment the newfound group stood outside the door to the "War Room" when Leo spied something and reached for it, brimming with natural curiosity. "Ooo, what does this button do?"<p>

Leo never pressed the button, as Maliek rapidly lifted him clear off of his feet, "-Oh no, you won't be touching that. Fire alarms aren't for fun-,"he placed Leo next to Aeris, "-in fact the both of you pay attention. First part of the tour, rules."

Aeris rolled her eyes while her ears made the same motion. After, they flattened horizontally and pointed back towards her hair. "Here we go."

Lack of enthusiasm from Aeris did not deter Maliek in the slightest.

He continued, "You'll get to love them, just like me, mostly because they're going to keep you from killing yourselves, also just like me."

Leo felt the need to voice his own objections. "I don't think that will be necessary, do you?" He grabbed Aeris's shoulder and squished her against him, much to her irritation. "Why just look at us. We're the picture of ow –ow –ow– Aeris let go of my ear."

Aeris had violently gripped Leo's ear in a two finger pincer. "You get your ear when you let go of my shoulder."

Leo happily released his grip, followed by Aeris, who was altogether much less happy about it.

Leo rubbed his ear and looked at Aeris with big eyes and a pouty lip, "That was a little excessive."

"And what you did was a little stupid, so I guess we're even."

Maliek observed the pair and his positive demeanor wilted with each passing moment. "I am going to regret this… aren't I."

Aeris strolled forward, in what direction, she didn't care, and said with a swish of her tail, "You have no idea."

* * *

><p>Moments later, Leo was bounding around being excited, while Aeris moped alongside Maliek.<p>

They were all walking down a long hallway.

Aeris spoke grudgingly, out loud, glaring at the ground, "You know, he didn't even tell us what we were supposed to do. Wasn't that the whole point?"

Maliek didn't stop looking ahead. "The captain does that. He can be odd."

"… pshht… "odd", is having weird taste in sandwiches. "Odd" is arranging your furniture so it doesn't face the tv. "Odd" isn't even a start."

Maliek waved his hand. "Meh. Anywa, back to the cuddling, since when are you two having sex?"

Aeris stopped cold in her tracks, stupefied. "We aren't-! What the- how do you even- gahhh?! Just no!"

Maliek turned on his heel and kept walking, backwards now, then, rolling his eyes. "You can't fool me. I walked in on you two this morning, remember."

Aeris clenched her teeth and growled, "This conversation is not happening…. and what the hell happened to Mister "it's not my business to pry"?"

Maliek simply stood there until, "….Meh."

And so they continued walking.

Maliek faced forward again so they were side by side and resumed talking. "Alright fine, but as I was sayin', you could have landed a worse job than sitting around doin' nothin'. I here that Horst has been asking for an assistant in the engine room; somethin' about needin' someone small tah fit into the really nasty places he can't reach…"

Aeris shied away and grimaced. "Okay okay, jeez, you made your point."

"Then smile about it. You and your not boyfriend get to travel the universe with a band of-," he paused to sarcastically smooth his hair, "-dashing debonair pirates."

Aeris cocked an accusing eyebrow. "You said that you weren't pirates."

"Well I eh… see…. Well after that rescue I think we probably qualify. Rekaterin's space station was a government facility."

Aeris's brow furrowed. "What kind of government would be interested in what he was doing?"

Maliek shrugged. "I'd be happy to tell ye', except I don't know what he was doin'. Always bothered me whenever we dropped cargo there, ye' just…. felt wrong."

"I bet Reaves would know….," Aeris muttered bitterly.

Before Maliek could respond the group halted at a junction and Leo turned around. "Hey were can a guy do his business around here, I need to empty the 'ol trouser snake."

Nothing was said while Maliek deciphered Leo's archaic vernacular.

"Trouser snake…."At last Maliek understood, "-Oh, you need the bathroom. You're in luck. We're just about to pass it.

Aeris huffed, "First time we've had luck in a while…." She raised an eyebrow when Leo and Maliek both gave her unusual looks. "What?"

Leo dropped his head a little to the side in a worried expression. "Nothing…. Anyway Maliek, how about that bathroom, I can't hold the pee forever."

Maliek turned left down a short corridor mumbling, "That's more than I need to know…."

They stopped by an inlet with a door on either side.

Maliek clearly explained which section was intended for male occupants and shortly after leaned on the wall facing the hallway while Aeris leaned on the other.

Time passed and neither said anything.

Aeris occupied herself by fidgeting with the buttons on her green pajamas.

Maliek on the other hand, was more concerned with what Aeris had said about Reaves when they'd been talking about Rekaterin's station.

Ultimately, he couldn't let the matter lie. "He's not so bad you know, Reaves. Not bad at all really. I've known 'im a while."

Aeris focused on one particular button on her sleeve_. "Why is that even there?" _

After a short delay she did respond. "Easy for you to say. He didn't just watch _you_ while a psychotic doctor mind fucked you. Him and his…. fucking _sick_ little games."

Not understanding what she meant, Maliek inquired, "Games?"

There was a loose thread on the button. It was bothering her somehow so she extended a claw to try and slice it off.

After one try she kept talking and remembered that Maliek had no way of knowing what she was referring to.

Irritably and with much hand waving, Aeris explained. "Yeah, a game, the kind where everything feels real and the object is being mentally raped by a psychopath who's idea of a good time is drowning you, throwing you off a cliff, and having you _eaten in front of your best friend while he watches…_. It was _that_ kind of game. Loads of fun."

Maliek shook his head and exhaled deeply with his eyes closed. "You never should have had to go through that."

"Oh that wasn't all. We got to wake up _naked_, in glass tubes filled with nasty green shit, with catheters shoved in places I._…"_ Aeris quickly realized she was slipping and decided against finishing the story, it wasn't the point anyway._ "… _Forget it, this conversation is over. I don't need to relive this shit to justify myself."

A full half minute passed, the only sound being the occasional frustrated grunt from Aeris while she picked at that infernal thread.

Finally Maliek asked, as blunt as a hammer, "What would you have done?

Aeris sliced the button clean off and threw it on the ground. Then she finally looked Maliek in the eye, hurling not so much daggers as claymores at him with her eyes. She struggled to find the right words and shook impotently. "I don't know… something!"

Maliek arched his eyebrows sympathetically. "You weren't even there for a week. You think it would have made a difference if he'd done somthin'? Maybe you think he could've just waltzed you out of the station and no one would notice along the way."

It was clear he wasn't winning Aeris over, so Maliek changed tactics.

"Alright look, when we came to get you we ran into him. Lucky thing too because he joined up and I guarantee had he not we would never have found you and you'd be dead. That has to count for something."

Aeris was still unconvinced. "He did it to save himself, that's all."

"You don't know that-"

Aeris's pupils started to narrow and her ears pointed back. Her teeth were showing and she almost literally hissed, "-And you don't know that he wasn't. Now I have had _enough_."

Leo came out of the bathroom precisely in time to hear only the last word. He was followed by a plume of billowing smoke.

Thoughtful as ever he asked, "Enough of what?

Maliek glanced at Leo. He did a double take and noticed the smoke. "What the-?"

He moved Leo out of the way and accessed an interface on the side of the bathroom door that displayed a view into the restroom. The camera showed nothing but smoke.

Maliek stepped back in shock and pressed a flurry of buttons on the interface.

The bathroom doors slammed together and a panel opened with a large red button which Maliek pressed. An enormous "Fwoom!" emanated from the other side of the doors and Maliek breathed a sigh of relief and turned around.

Leo was looking bashful standing in from of Aeris, who took the opportunity to smack him in the back of the head.

"Ow" was all he said.

Maliek eyeballed the pair of them suspiciously. "How did you even do that? There shouldn't have even been anything flammable in there…."

Aeris was smirking, their argument from a moment ago apparently forgotten. Not having to clean up Leo's mess herself was leaving her in a good mood. "You know… Leo is…. talented, like that. We're standing next to a living accident waiting to happen."

Leo bent over in Aeris's direction and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, flicking his tail in the air behind him. "And you're what?"

Maliek sensed a delicate balance in this moment. A tension in the air that suggested he should stay quiet until whatever was happening was over.

No one dared break the silence until Aeris said in the most falsely sweet voice, fangs glinting dangerously behind a toothy smile, "Well I'm perfect Leo. I would think that you would've learned that by now…"

Leo of course completely ignored any and all indications that he was basically playing with fire while doused with gasoline and responded, "Sure, and I'm the prince of Persia."

A small miracle occurred then, when Maliek single handedly saved Leo from imminent death with a single question. "Persia?"

Aeris was glaring at Leo still, but still answered the question without thinking, which was becoming a nasty habit at this point. "It was a country on earth hundreds of years ago…"

It occurred to her that the implications of Maliek not knowing that were a little unsettling. "What do they even teach you in your schools?"

Maliek folded his arms and leaned against the wall again. "World history hasn't gotten much attention since having more than one world got popular. Persia might've been a footnote somewhere, but I wasn't what ye'd call studious when I was your age."

After his short explanation he glanced at his "wristwatch" and spied the time. When he saw it he lifted his eyebrows and frowned. "Anyway we got to get you two to the Doc soon and make sure all the systems still work and so on…."

With surprisingly little objection Leo and Aeris followed in tow once Maliek began walking. He muttered as he did so. "…and here I was hoping keeping you two out of trouble would be easier than my last job. There just can't be any winnin' can there?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a another portion of the ship, a lightly stooped old man stood in front of a closed door gently hanging a lab coat on a hook leaving him in scrubs and a plain white v-neck t-shirt that lightly exposed frizzy white chest hairs.<p>

He shuffled slowly across the room and sat behind a desk where he gingerly dropped his feet and leaned slowly back in his chair.

Once the old man was suitably comfortable, he reached for the desk and withdrew a jet black tablet and turned it over then on.

The surface is lit in an amalgamation of countless colors displayed on a small holographic interface.

He rubbed an itch on the back of his bald head and stroked the wispy white fu manchu on his upper lip while he accessed medical files detailing the new equipment the captain had recently purchased with the money they had made off of the time machine.

Without thinking, he began to mutter to himself. "…mmm, damn fool… who said I needed new equipment…. old stuff was fine…"

The old man's bushy eyebrows wrinkled in distaste when the tablet interrupted with an alert informing him of an incoming call from the captain.

He frowned with long thin lips, took his feet off the desk, and sat up straight before answering, then he hit the response button.

A live action moving image of the captain appeared on the tablet and began speaking. "Reylan, I hope you aren't busy."

The doctor grumbled, "Kinda am. I need to look over the manifest to see what newfangled machinery you bought me. Might take a while. Why do we even need this shit anyway?"

Theron took the old man's attitude in good humor, long since used to his cranky doctor's attitude. "It's pays to be prepared Reylan. Speaking of which, you should probably brace yourself."

Reylan squinted suspiciously, "What for…."

Theron smiled, "Human interaction. Well, in a manner of speaking. I'm sure you'll see what I mean."

The doctor slumped back in his hair. "God dammit, I can't deal with… people, I'm already busy enough just trying to figure out what half of these here gizmos even do."

The doctor was a terrible liar, and Theron caught on immediately. "I'm sure you'll manage. But in any case I need to do something."

The doctor folded his arms grudging. "What?"

"Maliek is bringing you two new crew members. I've just convinced them to join us, but I don't trust them."

"So why'd you let 'em in then?"

"There's no need for you to worry about that, I just need you to program a little… insurance for me."

The doctor rolled his eyes. "Captain, the melodrama works great for performin' arts, but not so much for getting to the point. What exactly do you mean by "insurance"?"

Theron sighed and dropped his shoulders. Dealing with his only ships doctor was often challenging. "It's simple. Just program the nanobots that are already fused to their brain stems to neutralize muscle commands." He quickly added, "That's only non-essential to living muscles Bardrick. I don't want you stopping their hearts or anything. Just the arms and legs would be fine actually."

The old man rubbed his chin thinking over how to go about such a task. He soon had a pretty good idea. "One floppy switch coming right up sir, anything else you wanna bug me with?"

Theron shook his head. "No no, nothing else at the moment. Thank you doctor."

The Doctor grumbled more in response and the captain severed the connection.

For the next several minutes the Doctor shuffled around the medical bay programming everything he needed to do as the captain ordered. He'd made a big deal of it all, but in reality it was hardly a challenge.

He was even beginning to enjoy the exercise until he heard the door open.

He moved around a particularly large machine designed to make fully automated medical examinations and almost fell over from shock when he saw what was waiting for him on the other side.

What greeted him was the most bizarre and unsettling thing he'd seen in a very long time; A fully matured anthropomorphic female, staring him dead in the face, and not in a friendly way.

Instantly, he recognized this pink nightmare as his captain's latest pet project. It had never occurred to him that _this_ could be one of the new "crew" the captain had referred to.

Only one word struck him as suitable to his situation and that was, "….fuckberries."

Aeris looked down her nose at the little white man in front of her. "What's your problem shorty?"

Bardrick wrung his wrinkled hands and performing the psychological equivalent of raising porcupine quills. "You are missy. Or you're about to be. I can tell already you ain't nice enough to come down to the med bay to talk to an ugly old man so ya must want somethin'. So wadda'ya want?"

Maliek poke his head into sight along with Leo. "Comin' in might be a good start."

Bardrick grumbled in displeasure, but conceded with a defeated sigh, "Fine….. you probably won't go away unless I let you anyway." So he stepped out of the way and shuffled back to his desk in dignified retreat.

Aeris came through the door first and asked Maliek, "What's with Lo Pan?"

Maliek came in third after Leo. "Lo Pan?"

Aeris rubbed her eyebrows. "I need to stop with the pop-culture references…."

Maliek smiled. "Maybe."

Bardrick, just getting into his comfy spot behind the desk again, "If you wanna get all technical, you are one old ass lady miz pink n'fuzzy, not even I get _your_ pop culture references."

Aeris whipped around in shock with a snarl on her face. "I swear if you ever call me Miz Pink n'fuzzy again I'll staple your tongue to your desk…"

Bardrick was utterly unfazed. "Sure, whatever Miss Mittens. Hows about I fetch ye' some yarn to play with to make up for it."

He opened a drawer, pretending to look for yarn.

Aeris started forward. "I am _not_ about to take shit from some-"

Maliek wisely sensed imminent conflict and placed a restraining hand on Aeris's shoulder.

She turned her head to give him a warning look but he just shook a finger at her. "No fighting. We've only got the one doc, and he's staying alive-", he then centered his attention on the Doctor, "-and Reylan, you be polite, or so help me_ I'll _ staple your damn tongue to the desk."

Bardrick shrugged unapologetically. "Fine by me. So seriously now, why are you here? It ain't social, cuz you _know_ I hate meeting people."

Maliek shook his head a little. "You're right. We're here to make sure these two didn't catch anything on that space station."

"The one we blew up?"

Maliek nodded, "The one we blew up. And if any other issues come up, you know…. Irregularities… it'd be great if you could smooth them over too."

Bardrick took his feet of the desk, again, sat up straight, again, stuck his chin out, and lifted his palms in front of him with a mixture of annoyance, surprise, and incomprehension. "What are you talkin' about Maliek? I don't know the first thing about their physiology. Even if something was wrong I couldn't tell you."

He looked around and took stock of the room. "The mechs are totally useless too, since last I checked we don't update the data banks with the latest extinct species packs."

Leo piped up with a sideways frown. "We're right here ya' know."

Bardrick waved him off. "Big whoop kid. Point is I can't help."

Maliek folded his arms disapprovingly. "So what can you do?"

The Doctor folded his own arms and rocked back and forth in the chair, thinking. It took less than half a minute before he was finished. "Well, I can still run 'em through basic protocols for disease diagnostics. If the diseases are in the samples we can still see 'em. Problem there is we still can't do anything if they do show up. Outside that the best we can do is get 'em in some envioro suits and minimize exposure, least 'til I have time to study 'em. Maybe after some examinations I can give you something a bit more…. What's the word I'm looking for…. concrete? Yeah."

It would have to do. Maliek nodded decisively. "Fine. Take what you can get and we'll do the rest when we can." He looked at Leo and Aeris. "That makes our next stop getting you two fitted."

Leo heard the news while staring at all of the complicated medical equipment he wandered into and shouted all the way from the other side of the room, "Awesome!"

Now that things were decided Bardrick wanted to get things over with. "Okay, enough fuckin' around, who's first?"

Aeris jabbed her thumb towards the interior of the room. "Leo is."

Leo, surprised, "Why me?"

"Because I didn't have some weird healing shit smeared on my face. If it turns out that there might be side effects then I want to know before your face melts."

Bardrick attempted to interject. "I thought I just told you I can't-"

But Aeris wouldn't have it. "That's exactly my point. We don't know if it was tailored to us or humans. Can you just look at it?

"Well…. alright, but if his face really is melting you can kiss it goodbye because I can't do nothin' about it."

Leo pounced on the opportunity and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You'd like that wouldn't you, Aeris."

Aeris pursed her lips. "Bite me. I just don't want you to die of an infection after escaping from Doctor Frankenstein."

Maliek just stood there, next to Bardrick desk, while Leo and Aeris starting arguing. "It's like we're not even here."

Bardrick hushed him. "Be quiet, can't ye' see the women are busy arguing."

Maliek turned his head sideways. "….You know maybe I _will_ staple your tongue to the desk Doc."

"Bahh. You wouldn't dare, otherwise you'd have no competition on drinking night."

"You'd get over it."

But now something else was troubling Maliek. So he turned back to Aeris. "Who is Doctor Frankenstein?"

Aeris, "Gah! Will you just fix his face already, I want to get out of here!"

Bardrick leapt into action, in that he slowly rose and shuffled to action, but with great enthusiasm. "I'm all for that. Now where is that examination mech…."

It didn't take long. Doctor Bardrick took a few blood samples, ran them through some machines that didn't appear to do anything and he would just grumble and mutter about if asked.

So in less than a had hour he had completed everything in the examination that he needed the two cats for as well as completed his less honest mission for the captain.

And with that he sent all three, Leo, Aeris, and Maliek, on their way.

"So long, and stay away for as long as possible."

He slammed the door behind them and vanished.

That is just before he opened it again and laughed. "Naw, I'm just kiddin', but seriously, try not to die or something stupid. Your face might not be melting, but you could catch hundreds of diseases from literally anywhere."

That message delivered, he cackled madly and slammed the door closed again.

Leo turned to Maliek. "You know, I'm beginning to suspect that he…. is nuts."

Maliek kept looking at the door. "Yup."

For the second time the trio found themselves walking the hall towards their next destination when Aeris was finally coaxed into her first grin of the day by a particularly cheering thought. "So there's a drink night here?"

Maliek nodded. "There is. Fun stuff."

Aeris was suddenly in a forgiving mood. "I'm happy to be bribed with alcohol at this point… no memories."

Ironically, what Aeris said was sobering for Leo "That's a little depressing Aeris."

Aeris sighed, and the grin wilted. "Yeah… kind of is…."

Maliek pulled off a slightly-cheery, but still depressed looking smile. "If it makes you two feel better, Captain'll probably throw you party on drink night. It's tradition, even if he said there wasn't time."

That was enough for Leo. "Awesome. I know some great party tricks."

Aeris was suddenly less excited, "You mean I have to put up with that jerk and Leo, drunk, at the same time?

Leo was still too distracted looking around in fascination to focus, but he managed to respond in passing, "On the bright side, you'll also be drunk..."

"I-", Aeris paused, then rubbed her chin, then looked back up, "-you make a good point."

Maliek, "Glad you two agreed on something. Now let's get you into those suits before we get to the kitchen. Lunch will be waiting."

Three hungry stomachs all agreed to growl together, and so, a great bond was formed that day, along with a vow that no matter the cost, lunch would be had.


End file.
